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TRUE 

HISTORICAL STORIES 


FOR 

CATHOLIC CHILDREN 


BY 


JOSEPHINE PORTUONDO 
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PHILADELPHIA 

H. L. KILNER & CO. 

PUBLISHERS 


) UiJSARY of OOmHtSS 

Iwu Cooles Received 

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Copyright, 1907, by 

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TO THE MEMORY 


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CONTENTS, 


PAGE 

Introduction 7 

Constantine the Great 9 

St. Leo the Great 21 

St. Gregory the Great 33 

Pepin 44 

Charlemagne 54 

St. Henry 66 

Richard Cceur de Lion 77 

Edward the Confessor 91 

St. Louis 104 

Jeanne d’Arc 116 

Christopher Columbus 128 

Ferdinand and Isabella 144 

Katharine op Aragon 163 

Mary Queen of Scots 183 

Samuel de Champlain 199 

Charles Carroll op Carrollton 214 

Marie Antoinette 229 

Venice 248 

Conclusion. . . .' 260 


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INTEODUCTION. 


In the twilight of a snowy February day, the 
children gathered around me before the cheerfully 
crackling flames of the wood Are in the library. 

Tell us a story, Muddie,” said Kita, the eldest. 
(They have called me Muddie ever since they 
were babies and tried to say Mother.” Rita is 
twelve years old, Josephine is eleven and still 
likes fairy tales, I think, because I saw her not 
long ago curled up in an easy-chair reading the 
Purple Fairy Book.”^ Isabel, the baby, is three, 
and thinks there can be no toly ” in the world as 
beautiful as Little Red Riding-hood.” 

What story shall I tell you, children ? ” I 
asked. Rita and Josephine thought that a really 
true story ” would be nice, so the baby, for once 
must yield to the elder sisters, and we place her 
in a corner with Panchita, the kitten, and one of 
her Christmas toys, a very ugly brown cloth 
monkey, dressed in yellow, which she dearly loves. 
Then I begin the first one of my ‘^really true 
stories.” 


7 





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CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. 


Constantine, the first Christian ruler of the 
Roman empire, was born, in the ancient city of 
Naissus, near the Danube River, in the year 274. 
He was the son of Constantins and his wife 
Helena, who is honored as one of the saints of 
the Church. 

The Roman empire had become so vast in extent 
before the birth of Constantine, that it was difficult 
for one ruler to govern all of it, and, therefore, 
the realm was divided into four provinces, each 
governed by a Caesar. Constantine’s father was the 
Caesar of the West, a territory comprising, besides 
Spain and Britain, the ancient province of Gaul, 
now the countries of France, Belgium, Switzer- 
land, and the western part of Germany. The four 
Caesars were jealous of one another, and quarrels 
were frequent among them. The Emperor Diocle- 
tian, the principal of the four rulers, was so sus- 
picious of Constantius, that Constantine was sent 
to Rome, as a pledge for his father’s loyalty. 

9 


10 


CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. 


While the young hostage was in Home, war broke 
out in Egypt, and he accompanied Diocletian and 
the Koman army to that country, serving with 
great distinction throughout the campaign. After 
the return of the army from Egypt, Constantine 
joined the forces of the Caesar of the East, Gale- 
rius, who was conducting a war against the Per- 
sians. Galerius was a man of ignoble and jealous 
nature, and when he saw that Constantine was 
very popular with the army, he repeatedly exposed 
the young soldier to unusual danger, in the hope 
of ridding himself of a rival whom he feared. 

In the year 305, the two Koman rulers of su- 
perior rank abdicated, and were succeeded by 
Constantius, Constantine^s father, and by Gale- 
rius, the same who had commanded the Koman 
army in Persia. It was his province to appoint 
another Caesar, an honor which belonged, in all 
justice, to Constantine. But Galerius not only 
refused to give him the well-merited appointment, 
but actually detained him, a sort of prisoner in 
Kome, until compelled, by repeated letters from 
Constantius, to allow Constantine to return to 
Gaul. 

Constantius desired his son’s aid in some mili- 
tary enterprises he was preparing to undertake, 
and Constantine joined him at Boulogne, where 
they embarked, with the army, for Britain. They 
landed safely and reached York without accident. 


CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. 


11 


when Constantius was suddenly taken ill and died, 
leaving Constantine at the head of the army, in a 
foreign land. The young prince was much beloved 
by the troops, who clamored that he be made 
Caesar in his father’s place. But this position was 
subordinate to the ruler in Eome, and Galerius 
was the deadly enemy of Constantine. He did not 
wish to offend Galerius, but it was also necessary 
to avoid losing the favor of the army, who wished 
him to succeed his father as Caesar of Gaul. At 
length, he allowed himself to be declared his 
father’s successor, writing, at the same time, a care- 
fully worded letter to Galerius, explaining the 
circumstances of his assuming the purple, at the 
solicitation of the army, and regretting that the 
great distance from Rome had not permitted him 
to delay until the approbation of Galerius could 
be obtained. The receipt of this letter threw 
Galerius into a passion, and he at first declared 
that he would never recognize Constantine as 
Ciesar of Gaul. Wise counsel prevailed, however, 
and Constantine returned unmolested with his 
army to Gaul, which he governed with wisdom 
and vigor. The barbarians of the North suffered 
several severe defeats at his hands, and a line of 
forts built along the River Rhine prevented their 
entrance into Gaul. The country became very 
prosperous, partly owing to Constantine’s wise 
policy of toleration towards the Christians, who 


12 


CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. 


came from Rome in large numbers to escape the 
persecutions of Galerius. 

While Constantine was laboring for the welfare 
of his subjects in Gaul, great events were trans- 
piring in distant Rome. A revolt took place 
against Galerius, resulting in the overthrow of the 
tyrant, and the elevation to power of six emperors, 
among them Maximian, whose daughter Fausta 
was Constantine’s wife. Maximian and his son 
Maxentius both claimed the sole right to reign 
over Italy, and an unnatural conflict between the 
father and son was begun. Maxentius finally 
triumphed and drove his father into Gaul. The 
fugitive sought protection at the court of his son-in- 
law^ Constantine, who received him kindly and 
caused him to be treated with the respect due to his 
rank, generosity which was repaid with treachery 
by the false Maximian. 

During Constantine’s absence from his court at 
Arles, upon a necessary military expedition to the 
Rhine, Maximian basely tried to overthrow his 
son-in-law and usurp his place. When Constan- 
tine heard of this plot, he marched with all speed 
to Arles. Maximian fied to Marseilles, closely pur- 
sued by Constantine, who would have laid siege to 
the city, had not the frightened inhabitants con- 
sented to deliver the usurper into his hands. 
Maximian, upon learning of his betrayal, commit- 
ted suicide. This was the first of a series of events 


CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. 


13 


which led to the establishment of Constantine, as 
the sole emperor of the West. His brother-in-law, 
Maxentius, wishing to depose the rnler of Ganl, 
and reign over that country in his place, was pre- 
paring for an invasion, when Constantine was 
warned, by an embassy from Home, of this design 
against him. He anticipated Maxentius by 
marching into Italy with a large and well-drilled 
army. He had crossed the Alps, and was on the 
plain of Piedmont, in Northern Italy, before 
Maxentius knew that he had left Gaul. The two 
armies met, and, after Constantine had gained 
brilliant victories at Turin and Verona, there oc- 
curred the decisive battle of the Milvian bridge, 
near Rome. It was before this battle that Al- 
mighty God was pleased to work the miracle which 
was the means of converting Constantine, as well 
as thousands of his subjects, to the True Faith. 
The troops were preparing for the conflict, when a 
luminous cross appeared suddenly in the sky, 
having the words inscribed on it, In hoc signo 
vinces.’^ By this sign, conquer. Constantine and 
his army gained a complete victory, by which he 
became sole emperor of the West. His colleague, 
Licinius reigned in the East, and the two emper- 
ors jointly issued a proclamation, revoking all 4 
former edicts against the Christians, placing them 
on an equal footing with other Roman subjects. 


14 


CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. 


and ordering all their confiscated property to be re- 
turned to them. 

To understand how greatly the Church benefited 
by this proclamation, it is necessary to know some- 
thing about her condition, during the three hun- 
dred and thirteen years that had elapsed from the 
time of Our Lord^s crucifixion to the reign of Con- 
stantine. 

On the first Pentecost, when the twelve humble 
apostles began to preach the gospel in Jerusalem, 
the entire known world was practically under the 
dominion of the Eoman emperor, whose power 
over his subjects, was almost without limit. The 
Eomans were pagans, worshiping gods and god- 
desses, some of them the personification of various 
evil passions. When the Christian religion was 
brought to Rome, by the glorious apostles, St. 
Peter and St. Paul, many converts were made, 
who at once became the object of furious and unre- 
lenting persecution. The emperor ISTero began 
these persecutions in the year 64, the Christians 
were thrown to the wild beasts in the arena of the 
Coliseum, or covered with tar and pitch, they were 
set on fire and stationed in Rero’s gardens at night 
to light them in place of torches. It was during 
this persecution that St. Peter and St. Paul suf- 
fered martyrdom. Then followed ten persecutions 
of the Christians under various emperors, during 
which countless thousands of martyrs gave up 


CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. 


15 


their lives for the Faith. If there were nothing 
else to prove the divine origin of the Church, the 
fact that she survived these terrible persecutions, 
would be sufficient. 

As it was necessary for the Christians to prac- 
tise their religion secretly, churches were estab- 
lished in the catacombs, which were also used as 
burial-places for the dead. The catacombs were 
subterranean apartments under the city of Home, 
where, on rude stone altars, the holy sacrifice of 
the Mass was daily offered up. The candles used 
on our altars to-day, are placed there, partly to 
remind us of the trials undergone by our fore- 
fathers in the Faith, who, being compelled to wor- 
ship God secretly in the darkness of the catacombs, 
found it necessary to use candles to light the altar. 
The catacombs are filled with proofs of the an- 
tiquity of our holy Faith. Besides the altars, 
there are stone confessionals, very much like those 
in our churches to-day, — a proof that confession 
was practised among the early Christians. 

The reign of Constantine was the beginning of 
a glorious era for the Church. Emerging from 
the catacombs, the Christians were at liberty to 
practise their holy religion openly and without 
fear. Constantine himself built the beautiful 
church of St. John Lateran, and, in his eagerness 
to see it completed, he helped to dig the foun- 
dations with his own hands. The triumph of 


16 


CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. 


Christianity was complete, and the divine symbol 
of the cross was everywhere seen. It was inscribed 
on the shields of Constantine’s soldiers, as well as 
on the standard which was borne before them in 
battle. The emperor had himself enrolled among 
the catechumens or candidates for baptism, al- 
though he did not receive the sacrament until 
shortly before his death. 

The next important event in the life of Con- 
stantine was a war, lasting several years, with his 
colleague, Licinius. The origin of this war is 
somewhat obscure, but it was probably brought 
about by Licinius’ treachery. In a battle fought 
at Adrianople, Constantine totally defeated his 
enemy, and became the sole emperor of the East 
as well as of the West. 

It was the ardent desire of Constantine to found 
a city which had never been profaned by the wor- 
ship of idols. After casting about for a site for 
the new city, he decided upon a beautiful location 
at the junction of the Bosporus and the Propontis, 
or Sea of Marmora as it is now called. Constan- 
tinople was built, a splendid city of churches, 
palaces, baths and gardens. The sum allotted to 
the building of the walls, porticos and aqueducts, 
incredible as it may seem, was equal to something 
over twelve million dollars of our money. Con- 
stantine urged the progress of the work, with so 
much energy, that, in a few years it was com- 


CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. 


17 


pleted, and the birthday of Constantinople cele- 
brated with a solemn consecration of the city to 
the Blessed Virgin. 

St. Helena, the pious mother of Constantine, 
made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, while the city of 
Constantinople was being built. Although ad- 
vanced in years, her desire to find the true cross of 
Our Lord, prompted her to undergo the fatigues 
and dangers of the journey to the Holy Land. 
After a weary search, three crosses were found, 
buried, and near them the inscription and nails 
used at the crucifixion. It remained to ascertain 
which of the three crosses was the one St. Helena 
had gone in search of. At the suggestion of the 
bishop of Jerusalem, each one of the crosses was 
permitted to touch, in turn, a woman afflicted with 
an incurable disease. Immediately upon touching 
the third one, the woman was cured, and thus the 
True Cross was found. St. Helena caused a por- 
tion of the holy relic to be sent to the new city of 
Constantinople, where it was received by Constan- 
tine with great reverence, and enshrined in the 
church of St. Sophia. 

In spite of the many pressing cares of his sta- 
tion, Constantine found opportunity to arrange, 
with infinite prudence and care, a plan of educa- 
tion for his five sons. Most of the Eoman emper- 
ors who had preceded him, had been addicted to 
many vices, the result, Constantine thought, of 
2 


18 


CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. 


their having been brought up in luxury and indo- 
lence. He inaugurated quite a different system 
of training for his sons. The young princes were 
compelled to rise early, to subsist on the plainest 
fare, and to practise all kinds of athletic exercises, 
such as leaping, running, ^ and wrestling. They 
also became very proficient in horsemanship as 
well as in the use of all the weapons of that period. 
But, while their bodies were trained with care, 
the cultivation of their minds was not neglected. 
The most pious and learned prelates, as well as 
celebrated Greek and Roman teachers, were in- 
vited by Constantine to take up their residence at 
court, and to instruct his sons in the articles of the 
Christian Faith, and in all branches of profane 
learning. The emperor himself instructed the 
young princes in the science of government, and 
the knowledge of mankind. They were admitted 
to a share in the government of the Roman empire 
at a very early age. The young Constantine was 
appointed to hold his court in Gaul, where his 
father had first ruled. Constantins governed the 
East, and the third son Constans had Africa and 
Italy for his portion. 

The Church which had enjoyed peace since the 
conversion of Constantine, was assailed, in the 
year 320, not, as in former times, by pagans, but 
by one of her own sons. Arius, a Catholic bishop, 
began to teach the Arian heresy, as it was called, 


CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. 


19 


which denied the divinity of Our Lord. To refute 
this dangerous heresy, which soon found many 
adherents, the first general council of the church 
was held at INicsea, and the ITicene creed com- 
posed. Constantine was present at the council of 
!Nic8ea, and became a persistent enemy of Arian- 
ism. The emperor banished Arius to the remote 
country of Illyricum, but the heresiarch returned 
after a time to Constantinople, where he died a 
very sudden and terrible death. 

In the year 336, Constantine celebrated the 
thirtieth anniversary of his prosperous and glori- 
ous reign, and, a few months after the joyous 
festival, was seized with an illness which proved 
fatal. He did not die in his beloved city of Con- 
stantinople, but in Hicodemia, a city of Asia 
Minor famed for its medicinal baths. It was in 
the vain hope of restoration to health, by means of 
these baths, that Constantine journeyed to Hico- 
demia. The great emperor was baptized upon his 
death-bed, and edified all the assembled prelates, 
by the fervor with which he received the holy 
sacrament. After his baptism, he refused to re- 
sume his robes of imperial purple, preferring the 
white garb of the catechumen, which he prized 
more highly, he said, than the insignia of his ex- 
alted rank. Having arranged all his affairs, and 
directed that his body be interred in the church 
of the Apostles at Constantinople, the great em- 


20 


CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. 


peror peacefully breathed his last, May 22, 337, 
in the sixty-fourth year of his age, and the thirtieth 
of his reign. His body, dressed in the imperial 
robes, lay in state on a golden bed in the royal 
palace at Constantinople, where there was univer- 
sal mourning over the loss of a ruler who was so 
justly beloved by all his subjects. 

The reign of Constantine was glorious, not only 
temporally, but spiritually also. Besides profess- 
ing his belief in the Catholic faith, he issued a 
proclamation, advising all his subjects to become 
members of the one true Church. Shortly after 
the battle of the Milvian bridge, he caused medals 
to be struck, on which the emperor was represented 
kneeling before a cross. In many other ways, he 
manifested his love for the Christian religion, and 
his zeal for its advancement. The city of Constan- 
tinople was placed under the patronage of the 
Blessed Virgin Mary, and no pagan temple was 
permitted within its precincts. 

Constantine is justly regarded as one of the 
true sons of the Church, and he is honored by the 
presence of his effigy in the vestibules of two of 
Home’s most ancient and important churches, St. 
Peter’s and St. John Lateran. 


ST. LEO THE GKEAT. 


But little is known of this great pontiff, whom 
God raised up to guide his Church through many 
dangers and much adversity. We first learn of 
Leo, a Roman arch-deacon, going on an important 
mission to Gaul. During his absence, on what 
was then a long and tedious journey. Pope St. 
Sixtus III died, and Leo was unanimously chosen 
to succeed him. A deputation was sent to notify 
the new pope of his elevation to the throne of St. 
Peter, and when Leo appeared in Rome, he was 
received with extravagant demonstrations of joy, 
a fact which proves how much beloved he was by 
his flock. 

The great pontiff had, indeed, been chosen to 
rule the Church in trying times. The Faith was 
beset by enemies from without and from within, 
enemies temporal (perhaps the less dangerous of 
the two) and enemies spiritual. The Arian heresy 
which stirred up so much dangerous speculation 
concerning the nature of the Second Person of the 
Blessed Trinity, had been followed by various 
other heresies, every one of which had many ad- 
21 


22 


ST. LEO THE GREAT. 


herents. The !N’estorians in the East and the 
Pelagians in the E^orth, were working havoc 
among the Christians. St. Leo’s first act after 
his elevation to the pontificate was to write to the 
bishops of E'orthern Italy, solemnly warning 
them against admitting to the communion of the 
Church any one from the Pelagian ranks who 
had not previously made a full abjuration of his 
error. 

The temporal enemies who threatened Pome, 
were the vast boards of northern barbarians. 
Vandals, Huns and Goths, some of whom had al- 
ready carried their depredations into Italy. 

St. Leo despatched two holy missionaries, St. 
Germanus and St. Severus to combat Pelagianism 
in Britain. Their preaching and miracles over- 
came the heresy, and they had the satisfaction of 
converted large numbers of the native Britons, 
before their departure from the island. The in- 
vasion of Britain by the pagan Saxons, which oc- 
curred about a century later, all but extinguished 
the light of faith, which the two missionaries had 
labored so zealously to kindle. It remained for 
the great St. Augustine to convert the Anglo- 
Saxons of Britain in the seventh century. 

In the year 448, Eutyches, superior of a mon- 
astery near Constantinople, originated the Euty- 
chian heresy. He insisted that there was but one 
nature in Jesus Christ, — the divine nature, — 


ST. LEO THE GREAT. 


23 


stubbornly refusing to abandon his error, even 
when commanded by ecclesiastical authority to 
do so. The true reason for his course of action, 
was disappointed ambition, for Eutyches had 
aspired to the bishopric of Constantinople, and 
when he failed to attain the coveted honor, became 
a heresiarch. When Eutyches wrote to St. Peter, 
Bishop of Bavenna, to win him over to his cause, 
he received the following reply: When Jesus 

Christ uttered his first infant wail in the manger, 
the heavenly host was chanting ^ Glory be to God 
in the highest,’ and now, when, at the name of 
Jesus, every knee is bent in heaven, on earth and 
in hell, a question is raised concerning His origin. 
We exhort you above all things, to submit to what 
has been written by the Holy Koman Pontiff, for 
St. Peter lives and presides in his See, and gives 
the truth of faith to all who sincerely ask it.” 

Eutyches was afterwards excommunicated and 
deposed from the priesthood, and from the gov- 
ernment of his monastery. 

While St. Leo was directing matters of such 
grave importance to the Church, the whole civi- 
lized world was menaced with destruction. The 
Huns, a wild tribe from the remote forests of Tar- 
tary, had begun to migrate from their original 
home, moving westward in immense numbers. 
Their terrible leader, Attila was called the 
mower of men,” and the “ scourge of God,” so 


24 


ST. LEO THE GREAT. 


great was the fear he inspired. He was short of 
stature, with a broad chest, and an immense head, 
a thin beard and swarthy features. His capital 
was a camp situated in a field near the Danube, 
and the kings he had conquered kept guard at the 
door of his tent. His soldiers played games with 
the gold and silver vases of which they had de- 
spoiled their captives, while Attila himself ate the 
coarsest food from wooden platters. 

The Homan emperors, Valentinian and Theo- 
dosius, thinking it would "be an easy matter to 
turn the barbarian from his avowed intention 
of marching against Rome, sent ambassadors to 
the camp of Attila, to treat with him. The 

scourge,” seated on a low stool in his tent, re- 
ceived the polished Romans, whose credulity he 
took advantage of, in the most practised manner. 
Referring to himself, he said : The star falls, 

the earth trembles. I am the hammer of the uni- 
verse, the grass never grows again, where Attila’s 
horse has once trod.” 

The Roman emperors foolishly thought to stop 
the barbarian at their gates, by bestowing upon 
him the title. General of the Empire,” and by 
paying him a tribute, which they pretended to re- 
gard as his pay. But the Hun refused the prof- 
fered honor with disdain, and said that, to be 
an emperor^s general, is to be a servant. Attila’s 
servants are emperors.” 


ST. LEO THE GREAT. 


25 


!N"ot long after this fruitless interview, Attila 
sent an emissary to Rome, who said to the em> 
peror : Attila, my master and yours, orders you 
to prepare him a palace.’’ The Romans, in an 
agony of fear, understood that this meant that the 
long-dreaded invasion was at hand. Attila started, 
with a train of tributary princes and five hundred 
thousand soldiers, on his expedition of rapine and 
pillage. The vast army crossed the Rhine, and 
marched through the province of Gaul. City 
after city suffered the horrors of the barbarian 
invasion. Metz was provoked to resistance, and 
was laid in ashes, while the streets ran red with 
the blood of its murdered inhabitants. The few 
survivors, among them the bishop of Metz, were 
led away captives. 

Troyes was threatened with a fate similar to 
that of Metz. The bishop. Lupus, after fasting 
and praying to avert the threatened calamity, 
went forth, in his pontifical robes, to meet and 
speak with the barbarian leader. Who art 
thou ? ” he asked, who overcomest so many na- 
tions and subduest the world ? ” Attila answered, 
I am King of the Huns, the scourge of God.” 
^^If thou art the scourge of God,” returned the 
holy bishop, remember to do only what is allowed 
thee by the hand that moves and governs thee.” 
Attila was astonished at the boldness, and awed 
by the dignity of the good bishop, to whom he 


26 


ST. LEO THE GREAT. 


made a promise to spare the city, through which 
he marched his men, without doing it the least 
harm. 

When Attila approached the city of Paris, the 
inhabitants prepared to fly to a place of safety. 
St. Genevieve, a humble shepherdess, was the 
means of saving the city. She exhorted the panic- 
stricken people to remain and give themselves up 
to prayer and fasting, promising them, in the 
name of God, that the dreaded Hun would not 
enter Paris. Precisely as the saint had foretold, 
Attila suddenly changed the direction of his 
march, away from Paris, advancing on the city of 
Orleans. 

Orleans was governed by the holy bishop, St. 
Aignan, and he had been warned of the approach 
of the Huns in time to seek the aid of the Koman 
general, Aetius. J ust as Attila’s army reached the 
gates of Orleans, the soldiers of Aetius appeared. 
Attila, beside himself with rage, withdrew from 
the city to the neighboring plain of Chalons, where 
he prepared to meet his opponents. The two 
armies numbered about a million, and one of the 
bloodiest battles recorded in history, was fought. 
Three hundred thousand slain were left upon the 
field, and a small neighboring stream was swelled 
into a fair-sized river, by the torrents of blood that 
flowed into it from the battle-field. Attila was 


ST. LEO THE GREAT. 27 

utterly defeated, and fled across the Ehine with 
the remnant of his army. 

Christendom then enjoyed a respite of one year, 
at the end of which, the dreaded Huns appeared, 
stronger than ever. This time, they entered north- 
ern Italy, whose cities were wasted by fire and 
sword. Padua, Verona, Milan, were pillaged and 
destroyed. The Huns pushed on through the 
ruins of the cities they had burned, until they 
reached Aquileia, whose terrified inhabitants fled 
to some marshy islands in the Adriatic Sea, 
where they laid the foundation of the city of 
Venice. 

Hear Mantua, the barbarians halted, and St. 
Leo went forth to meet the scourge of God,’^ as 
the bishop of Orleans had done before him. But 
how much more difiicult was the task of the great 
pontiff ! Orleans was but an insignificant village, 
compared with the great and rich city of Kome, 
which lay, almost within the ruthless grasp of the 
barbarians. Leo^s mission was, indeed, a desper- 
ate one, but he never faltered. Arrayed in full 
pontifical attire, but quite alone, for he would 
not expose any of his flock to the danger he him- 
self ran, the brave pontiff went out to beg the 
cruel conqueror for mercy. 

It was a meeting of Spirituality with Material- 
ism, of Compassion with Cruelty. What passed 
between the saint and the cruel warrior during 


28 


ST. LEO THE GREAT. 


their curious interview, is not known. It would 
appear that Attila was awed by the ascetic appear- 
ance and majestic bearing of the holy pontiff. 
He lent a favorable ear to his petition, and, turn- 
ing his army back from Rome, withdrew to the 
plains of the Danube. 

Some of Attila’s soldiers, astounded to see him 
abandon the rich prize of Rome, at the mere word 
of an old man, asked him the reason for his extra- 
ordinary conduct. Attila answered, that he saw, 
during the interview, two venerable personages, 
supposed to be St. Peter and St. Paul, standing 
behind Leo, and that the vision impelled him to 
spare Rome, even against his inclination. 

Upon Leo^s return to Rome, he was received 
with triumphant rejoicing by the grateful people, 
who hailed him as their deliverer, and bestowed 
upon him the title of Great.” 

Rome enjoyed two years of comparative peace, 
after the death of Attila, a period which Leo 
spent in adjusting the affairs of the Church. The 
Roman calendar was arranged, and the time regu- 
lated for the celebration of Easter. Up to the 
time of Leo, the sins of persons subjected to 
canonical penance, were published in the churches. 
This custom he abolished, making private confes- 
sion to an approved priest and the performance 
of the prescribed penance, the only conditions to 
be fulfilled by the penitent. 


ST. LEO THE GREAT. 


29 


After this brief interval of calm, the storm burst 
once more over Eome. Valentinian, the weak and 
wicked emperor, had become very jealous of the 
popularity of the great general Aetius, who had 
won imperishable glory on the field of Chalons, 
where he defeated the Huns under Attila. 

During an interview at the palace, between the 
emperor and the general, a quarrel occurred, and 
Valentinian killed Aetius. One of his courtiers 
had the courage to rebuke the murderer; saying 

you have cut off your right hand with your left.’’ 
A few days later, Valentinian himself fell by the 
hand of a hired assassin of the senator Maximus, 
who wished to become emperor. Being a man of 
great infiuence in public affairs, he gained his 
end, was not only proclaimed emperor, but forced 
Valentinian’s widow Eudoxia, to marry him. 
Eudoxia, crazed with hatred and a desire for re- 
venge, resolved to sacrifice her country’s welfare, 
to satisfy her resentment. She wrote to Genseric, 
king of the barbarian Vandals, to come to Borne, 
promising her aid in the capture of the city. 

The Vandals were fierce warriors something 
like the Huns. They had no knowledge nor ap- 
preciation of art or literature, and the word, van- 
dalism, which means the wanton destruction of 
any precious thing, still reminds us of the ruthless 
destruction of the many priceless treasures of 
Koman art by these barbarians. 


30 


ST. LEO THE GREAT. 


Genseric had led his army into Africa, and was 
established near Carthage, when Eudoxia’s mes- 
sage reached him. He seized at once upon a pros- 
pect so alluring, and sailed for Rome with a large 
force. When the tidings of Genseric’s approach 
were brought to Rome, the cowardly Maximus pre- 
pared for flight. One of his own courtiers, in 
disgust, killed him, before he could carry his plan 
into execution, and threw the body into the Tiber. 

Amid the general excitement and alarm, caused 
by the approach of the Vandals, the Romans looked 
for help to the only man who could be of use in 
the crisis. Leo the Great had saved Rome from 
the fury of the Huns, and again he saved the city 
from destruction at the hands of the V andals. 
He met Genseric outside the walls of Rome, and 
exacted from him a promise, to respect the lives 
of the Romans, and to spare the public monu- 
ments. More than these concessions could not 
have been obtained, because the Vandal soldiers, 
during the long voyage from Africa, had promised 
themselves the sacking of Rome, as their reward. 

It took fourteen days to accomplish the work of 
pillage. The richest treasures which the Vandals 
carried away with them, were the sacred vessels 
brought from Jerusalem by the Roman general, 
Titus. The invaders took several thousand prison- 
ers, among them the Empress Eudoxia and her 
daughters, whom they forced to accompany them. 


ST. LEO THE GREAT. 


31 


on their return to Africa. The bishop of Carthage 
did everything in his power to render more bear- 
able, the lot of the wretched Roman captives, in 
Africa. Two of the churches were converted into 
hospitals, where the good prelate spent his entire 
time, ministering, with his own hands, to the poor 
exiled prisoners. Some of them he ransomed with 
money obtained from the sale of the gold and silver 
furnishings of the altar. After the death of this 
saintly bishop, Genseric closed all the churches of 
Carthage, and exiled the priests, thus depriving 
his Christian captives of their only source of con- 
solation. 

It would appear, that Genseric prided himself 
upon his cruelty, for, as he was sailing out of 
Carthage, upon one of his frequent voyages of 
rapine and bloodshed, his pilot asked, to what 
country should he steer the ship. Generic an- 
swered : To that country on which God’s anger 
rests.” 

The Roman empire was in the throes of its 
death-struggle. Only the Church stood unchanged 
and unchangeable, amid the havoc wrought by the 
barbarians — the comfort and support of her chil- 
dren in their trials, not the least of which was the 
loss of the good pontiff. St. Leo’s long and useful 
pontificate came to an end, April 11, 461, death 
relieving him of the cares and labors that had filled 
his life. One hundred and seventy-three letters. 


32 


ST. LEO THE GREAT. 


and sixty-nine discourses of St. Leo, on the myster- 
ies of the Catholic Faith, are still extant — a lasting 
memorial of the great pontiff’s piety, learning and 
eloquence. He rendered valuable and permanent 
service to the Church, as well as to the city of 
Rome — and is justly regarded as one of the great- 
est popes that ever occupied the chair of St. Peter. 
St. Leo’s feast is celebrated on the anniversary of 
his death, April 11. 


ST. GEEGOKY, THE GKEAT. 


Gregory was born in Home, of noble and pious 
parents, his mother Silvia, being among the saints 
of the Church. In his ancestral home, on the 
Coelian Hill, he led a most austere life, and, after 
the death of his parents, joined the order of St. 
Benedict, converting his house into a monastery. 
The church of St. Gregory, in Home, stands upon 
the site of the saint^s family mansion, and the 
chapel of St. Silvia, connected with it, was erected 
by Gregory, in honor of his mother. 

In the convent, the young novice practised per- 
fectly all the exalted virtues of his station in life, 
and showed so strong a predilection for the religi- 
ous state, that nothing but the call of obedience 
would ever have prevailed upon him to leave his 
beloved convent. Pope Pelagius II appointed 
the young monk to the position of deacon of Home, 
and shortly after, sent him as nuncio to the im- 
perial court of Constantinople. 

While Gregory was still a novice, he was struck: 
with the beauty of some boys who were exposed 
3 33 


34 


ST. GREGORY THE GREAT. 


for sale in the Koman market-place, and was 
grieved to learn that they were pagans. 

Angels,” he said, and of the province of 
Deira — worthy indeed to be angels; Deira, from 
the wrath of God must we rescue them.” 

He never forgot the fair English slave boys, 
and, upon his return from Constantinople, solicited 
the permission of the pope, to go as a missionary 
to the distant island of Britain. Reluctantly, 
consent was granted, and Gregory started on his 
long journey. He had traveled some distance, 
when a messenger from the pope overtook him, 
with a command to return at once, to Rome. The 
reason for his unexpected recall was this; when 
the Roman people learned that their beloved Greg- 
ory had gone on so perilous a mission, they im- 
portuned the pope so earnestly, that the young mis- 
sionary's recall was the result. 

Pope Pelagius died, soon after Gregory’s return 
to Rome, and the humble Benedictine monk was 
unanimously elected to fill the vacant see. He 
tried to escape the honor by flight, but a dove 
showed the place of his retreat, and Gregory was 
escorted in triumph to Rome, where the cere- 
monies of his installation took place. 

The plague was raging in Rome, and the newly- 
elected pope made use of the fear and dread with 
which the inhabitants were filled, to remind them 
of their duty towards Almighty God, whose hand 


ST. GREGORY THE GREAT. 


35 


rested so heavily upon them. Gregory invited his 
flock to join in a sevenfold litany to be sung in 
the church of St. Mary Major. All the people 
marched in a great procession — the immense con- 
course chanting Kyrie Eleison. So virulent was 
the plague, that, in the course of a single hour, 
eighty persons in this procession dropped dead. 
A pretty legend states, that, while the people, on 
their way to church, were crossing the Tiber oppo- 
site the mausoleum of Hadrian, all in that great 
procession saw, with joyful astonishment, the 
angel of wrath on top of the mausoleum, sheathe 
his sword, as a sign that the plague was at an end. 
Erom that hour the name of the mausoleum was 
changed to the “ AngeFs Castle,'^ (the Castle of 
Saint Angelo.) 

After the disappearance of the pestilence, the 
anthem, Kegina Coeli, was introduced into the 
service of the church, because the abatement of 
the scourge was considered to have been brought 
about through the intercession of the Blessed 
Mother of God. 

St. Gregory disliked exceedingly his election 
to the papacy, his desire having been to return to 
the peaceful seclusion of the cloister. In his 
letters, he expressed himself plainly on this sub- 
ject. To the emperor’s sister he wrote : I have 
lost the solid joys of retirement, and, whilst exter- 
nally seeming to rise, I have fallen internally.’’ 


36 


ST. GREGORY THE GREAT. 


Gregory had not forgotten, in the midst of the 
cares of his new dignity, the design he had 
formed for the conversion of the English. The 
light of faith had, indeed, been kindled in Britain, 
in the fifth century, by St. Germanus, but the 
subsequent invasion of the island by the pagan 
Saxons and Angles, had undone most of the good 
missionary's work. In Gregory’s time all the 
inhabitants, with the exception of a very few, 
living in remote parts of the island, were pagans. 
Fortunately the reigning prince, Ethelbert, had 
married a Christian princess, Bertha, the daugh- 
ter of the king of Paris. Queen Bertha was very 
pious, and she married Ethelbert only on condi- 
tion that she should be allowed the free exercise 
of her religion. 

Gregory chose, for the English mission, St. 
Augustine, and several companions — all mem- 
bers of the Benedictine order. They landed on 
the Isle of Thanet, and Queen Bertha’s influence 
obtained for them an immediate interview with 
the king, who insisted that the proposed audience 
should be given in the open air, because he thought 
that any spell the missionaries might cast over 
him, would be less powerful out of doors, than 
in the house. 

St. Augustine and his companions approached 
the place where Ethelbert was awaiting them. 
They walked in procession, with all the solemn 


ST. GREGORY THE GREAT. 


37 


pomp of a religious ceremony. Before them were 
borne a silver cross, and a banner with the image 
of the Saviour. The king received them kindly, 
and they at once began to preach the truths of the 
gospel. Ethelbert listened attentively and when 
they had concluded said : Your promises are 

fair, but I cannot abruptly relinquish the ancient 
belief of the Saxons ; however, as you have taken 
so long and perilous a journey, to bring what you 
consider a better teaching to Britain, it is but 
just that we should treat you well.” 

The king allowed the missionaries to establish 
themselves in Canterbury, where a little chapel 
had been erected for the use of Queen Bertha. 
Very soon the holy teaching and example of St. 
Augustine and his fellow-monks won the king to 
the True Faith. His subjects began to follow his 
example, and on Christmas day 597, two thou- 
sand pagans were baptized. 

Gregory's heart was filled with joy and grati- 
tude when he heard of the great success that had 
attended his missionaries in Britain. He wrote 
a letter of congratulation to Ethelbert and Bertha, 
and another to St. Augustine, in which he de- 
scribed the joy that he felt over the conversion of 
Britain to the True Faith. This letter contained 
directions for the consecration of bishops for the 
different sees which Gregory wished to establish 
in various parts of the island. He advised St. 


38 


ST. GREGORY THE GREAT. 


Augustine not to destroy the pagan temples, but 
only the images they contained, and to conse- 
crate, wherever possible, the buildings to the wor- 
ship of the True God.” He exhorted the holy mis- 
sionary to he on his guard, lest the miracles which 
God had deigned to work through him, might 
cause some natural feeling of pride in his soul. 

St. Gregory, sent, at the request of St. Augus- 
tine, a fresh company of monks to Britain, for 
the rapidly growing church was in need of more 
priests. These monks took with them many beau- 
tiful gifts sent by the pope to his newly-converted 
flock, consisting principally of valuable books — * 
some of them remarkably beautiful. One Bible 
was written upon rose-colored leaves showing 
beautiful reflections in the light. Many of the 
books were bound in silver and set with precious 
stones. The library of Corpus Christi, at Cam- 
bridge, and the Bodleian, at Oxford, contain two 
ancient copies of the Gospels supposed to have been 
among the books which the pontiff sent to Eng- 
land in St. Augustine^s time. 

Gregory labored ceaselessly for the welfare of 
his flock, despite an illness which was of many 
years^ duration, and which caused him much 
suffering. 

Many abuses had crept into the church in Gaul; 
these he remedied with infinite care and trouble. 
His charity to the poor and the sick, not only of 


ST. GREGORY THE GREAT. 


39 


Home, but of distant places also, was constant 
and perfect. He sent bedding, clothes and money 
as far as Mt. Sinai. An aged abbot of a monas- 
tery in Isanria, wrote to beg the pope to send him 
fifty solidi for the needs of his brethren; but, 
upon second thought considered that he had asked 
too much, and added a postcript to his letter, in 
which he stated that thirty solidi would suffice. 
To this Gregory answered: Because I find you 
have acted towards me with such consideration, I 
must behave in the like spirit. I have, therefore, 
sent you the fifty solidi, and, for fear that might 
be too little, I' have sent you ten more, and lest 
even that might not be sufficient, I have super- 
added twelve more. In this you have shown your 
love for me, that you have presumed to place the 
full confidence in me that you ought to have done.” 

To the numerous poor of Rome, Gregory gave 
daily assistance in their necessities. Twelve in- 
digent persons were invited to his table, every day, 
and there may still be seen in Rome a great stone, 
at which the holy pontiff is supposed to have 
served the persons whom poverty and charity had 
made his guests. A poor man was found dead 
in a lodging-house, presumably of want, and, 
though Gregory had not even been aware of his 
existence, he refrained from saying mass for 
several days, as though he, himself, had been in 
some way lacking in charity. Even the oppressed 


40 


ST. GREGORY THE GREAT. 


and despised Jews found a friend and benefactor 
in the saintly pontiff, who insisted that these un- 
fortunate people should not be injured, deprived 
of their synagogues, or prevented from holding 
their religious festivals. “ Those who are not 
Christians,” he said, must be won to the True 
Faith, by mildness and kindness, by admonition 
and persuasion.” 

St. Gregory expended much time on the liturgy 
of the Church, which he re-arranged with order 
and precision, condensing in one book the mass- 
prayers which had hitherto been scattered through 
several volumes. This collection of prayers, 
called the sacramentary, is the ground-work of 
the Roman Missal used in our churches at the 
present time. The music, used in the service of the 
Church, also claimed St. Gregory’s attention. The 
Gregorian chant, so much favored by the Holy 
Father Pius X, was composed with much care 
and labor by Gregory, who founded, in Rome, a 
school of singers, to teach and perpetuate this 
style of music. He endowed this school with 
lands, and erected two buildings for its use — one 
connected with the Basilica of St. Peter, the other 
with the Lateran Palace, where he used to instruct 
his boys, reclining on a couch, when his infirmity 
would not permit him to sit up. 

The affairs of his beloved monks were the ob- 
ject of much solicitude to Gregory, who made 


ST. GREGORY THE GREAT. 


41 


many wise laws relative to the government of 
monasteries. He never ceased to regret that he 
had not been allowed to spend his life in the 
cloister. In a letter he wrote : I sailed with a 
favorable wind when I led a quiet life in my 
monastery. But stormy gales have arisen since 
and hurried me along with them.” 

During the invasion of Italy by the Lombards, 
many nuns were forced to take refuge in Borne, 
some of them but poorly provided with the neces- 
sities of life. Gregory hastened, with his accus- 
tomed energy, to render them all the assistance in 
his power. To the emperor ^s sister, who had sent 
an alms for the poor, Gregory wrote : With half 
the money, I have arranged for the purchase of 
bed-clothes for the nuns, because, from the want of 
sufficient bed-coverings, they suffer much from 
the cold of winter here.” The nuns mentioned in 
this letter evidently had come from some warmer 
part of Italy. 

St. Gregory, who had been, for many years, a 
victim of ill-health, began, in the year 603, to suf- 
fer so much from his increasing infirmity that he 
said to a friend ; My one consolation is the hope 
of the speedy approach of death. Pray for me, 
lest I give way to impatience through my suffer- 
ings, and lest the sins which might be pardoned 
me on account of my pains, be increased by my 
complainings.” 


42 


ST. GREGORY THE GREAT. 


Charitable and solicitous for the welfare of 
others to the last, he could beg Marinianus of 
Ravenna, to take care of his health, and very 
shortly before his death, he wrote to Venantius 
of Perugia that he had heard that our brother 
and fellow-bishop Ecclesius is suffering from the 
cold, not having suitable clothing.^^ Because of 
the unusual cold, Gregory begged Venantius to for- 
ward to Ecclesius, without delay, the thick woolen 
garment, which he sent by the bearer of his letter. 

This act of charity and forgetfulness of self 
was the last of the innumerable ones that had filled 
the life of the holy pontiff. He died, March 12, 
604, mourned by the entire civilized world. 

St. Gregory's remains were first interred in the 
portico of St. Peter’s, where they rested until the 
pontificate of Gregory IV. This pontiff consid- 
ered that the great saint should be buried more 
honorably, and caused his body to be removed to 
an oratory which had been built and adorned es- 
pecially to receive it. 

In the present Basilica of St. Peter, the saint’s 
bones rest beneath the altar of St. Andrew. 

St. Gregory has left numerous writings, ser- 
mons on the Gospels, Instructions to priests, and 
many theological works, in which are displayed 
the author’s learning, piety and sound judgment. 
The holy pontiff was a model of all the virtues, 
joined to prudence and wisdom. It has been said 


ST. GREGORY THE GREAT. 


43 


of him that he combined the gentleness of the dove 
with the wisdom of the serpent. Perhaps his 
most conspicuous virtue was humility, which he 
practised in a perfect manner all his life. He 
was accustomed to refer to himself as the serv- 
ant of all bishops.” 

A few fragments of St. Gregory's epitaph, are 
still extant. 

Earth, take that body which at first you gave 
Till God again shall raise it from the grave, 

His soul amid the stars finds heavenly day 
In vain the gates of darkness make essay, 

On him, whose death but leads to life the way. 

To the dark tomb, this prelate though decreed 
Lives in all places by his pious deed. 

Before his bounteous hand, pale Hunger fled, 

To warm the poor, he fleecy garments spread 
And to secure their souls from Satan’s power 
He taught by sacred precepts every hour. 

Nor only taught, but first the example. led 
Lived o’er his rules and acted what he said. 

To English Saxons Christian truth he taught. 

And a believing flock to heaven he brought. 

This was thy work and study, this thy care, 
Offerings to thy Redeemer to prepare. 

For these, to heavenly honors raised on high, 

Where thy reward of labors ne’er shall die. 


PEPIK 


The name Pepin means little Father,” in 
the ancient Frankish language, and the subject 
of my story was called Pepin the Short, on ac- 
count of his low stature. He was possessed of 
such wonderful strength, that he once cut off a 
lion’s head, with a single stroke of his sword. 

The monarchs of the Franks had belonged, be- 
fore the accession of Pepin, to the Merovingian 
dynasty. The kings of this line were indolent 
and weak, and they gradually fell into the habit 
of entrusting all the affairs of the government, 
to an officer of the royal household, called the 
Mayor of the Palace. These Mayors of the Palace 
finally became so powerful, that they were actu- 
ally the real rulers, the kings being only figure- 
heads. One of the most celebrated Mayors of 
the Palace was Charles Martell, or Charles of the 
Hammer, so called because he went into battle 
bearing a hammer which he used with telling 
effect on the heads of the enemy. Charles Martell 
was a great warrior, and as there was always 
more or less fighting going on in those unsettled 
44 


PEPIN. 


45 


times, he had many opportunities of distinguish- 
ing himself. 

In the year 731, the Arabs, who had crossed 
the Strait of Gibraltar and invaded Spain, de- 
sired to gain more territory. They resolved to 
march northward and to make themselves masters 
of, at least, a portion of the Frankish kingdom. 
They advanced with little hindrance, and were 
promising themselves a great part of Europe, 
when Charles Martell met the invaders at Tours, 
in northern France. A terrible battle took place, 
in the course of which the Franks defeated the 
Arabs and compelled them to return to Spain. 
They never again attempted to conquer any terri- 
tory outside of Spain, and Charles Martell saved, 
perhaps the whole of Europe, from falling into 
the power of those Mohammedan infidels. Natur- 
ally, this splendid victory placed great power in 
the hands of Charles Martell. The weak and cow- 
ardly Merovingian king ceased to be considered 
the head of the government, and, on the death 
of Charles Martell, his son Pepin was crowned 
king of the Franks. The last Merovingian king 
voluntarily resigned the throne, and the first 
king of the Carlovingian line began to reign over 
the Franks. 

The Frankish kingdom comprised, at that time, 
all of the territory now known as France, and 
the western part of Germany. The people had 


46 


PEPIN. 


been converted to Christianity, and were a sturdy, 
honest race, good fighters and hunters, knowing 
little of the luxuries, or even of the comforts of 
life. The men wore tunics made of the skins of 
animals which they had killed in the chase, or of 
a sort of coarse cloth woven by the women of the 
family. The learning and refinement of Italy had 
not penetrated the country of the Franks, where 
few men, except the monks, knew how to read. 
It is extremely doubtful whether Pepin himself 
could read or write. However, he was a very good 
man, and did all in his power to spread the Catho- 
lic Faith, among the heathen nations bordering 
on his dominions. The ancient Germans wor- 
shiped Woden and Thor. The days of the week, 
Wednesday and Thursday, are named for these 
heathen deities. The oak-tree was sacred to Thor, 
and there was a very large one at Giesmar, for 
which the people had a particular veneration. 
Even the recently converted Christians feared to 
tamper with this tree. St. Boniface had been sent 
to convert the worshipers of Thor and Woden, 
and he told the people that if Thor were really 
a god, he would protect his tree. The saint then 
grasped an axe and boldly attacked the great oak. 
He chopped until it fell, and the people became 
converts to Christianity, convinced of their error 
in worshiping Thor and Woden. St. Boniface 
was afterwards martyred by the heathen Frisians, 


PEPIN. 47 

and is honored bj the Church as the apostle of 
Germany. 

^^ot long after Pepin became king of the 
Pranks, he took upon himself the duty of pro- 
tecting the pope against the Lombards, a powerful 
and warlike people of northern Italy, who wished 
to possess themselves of Kome. The Lombard 
king, Aistulf, was preparing to march with a large 
army against Kome, when the pope, Zacharius, 
determined to seek the aid of the brave Prankish 
king. Pepin readily promised his assistance, but 
before he succeeded in putting his promise into 
execution. Pope Zacharius died, and was suc- 
ceeded by Stephen II. It will be necessary to go 
back a little in our history, to give you a clear 
understanding of the great service rendered by 
Pepin to the Catholic Church. 

When the Roman emperor, Constantine, re- 
moved the seat of government from Rome to the 
new city of Constantinople, the latter city natur- 
ally began to take precedence of Rome in the 
affairs of the empire. The more ancient city, 
was, as it were, neglected, until, in the eighth 
century, its temporal government was placed in 
the hands of a sort of deputy of the emperor at 
Constantinople. This deputy was called an 
exarch. His residence was at Ravenna, a city 
near Rome, and the territory he governed was 
called the exarchate of Ravenna. This form of 


48 


PEPIN. 


government was very unsatisfactory to the 
people of Rome, for they knew the weakness of 
the exarch, and how hopeless would be their 
position if they should be attacked by any of those 
fierce and restless people to the northward, a 
calamity which was likely to occur at any time, 
for Rome had always been a tempting prize to 
the invader. 

Not long after the election of Stephen to the 
pontificate, Aistulf seized Ravenna and put the 
last exarch to flight. The Lombard king consid- 
ered that he already had all of Italy in his grasp, 
and made preparations for the capture of Rome. 
Stephen sent an urgent message to the emperor at 
Constantinople, informing him of the imminent 
danger, and begging that an armed force be at 
once sent to the defense of Rome. But the indo- 
lent or indifferent emperor paid so little heed to 
the warning, that Stephen resolved to solicit aid 
from the powerful Frankish king. The good 
pope ordered a solemn procession to invoke the 
Divine Mercy. Barefoot, his head covered with 
ashes, and bearing on his shoulders a miraculous 
image of Our Lord, Stephen led the procession 
through the streets of Rome. On the following 
day, an embassy left the city secretly, carrying a 
message from Stephen to Pepin. The envoys 
made their way safely to the Frankish court, 
where they were received with every mark of re- 


PEPIN. 


49 


Bpect. Pepin readily promised to give aid to the 
distressed people of Home, and despatched St 
Chrodegang, Bishop of Metz and the Frankish 
duke, Autcharius to conduct Stephen to Gaul. 
When the ambassadors of Pepin reached Rome, 
they found the pope on the point of setting out 
to beg the clemency of Aistulf, but he journeyed, 
instead, to the court of Pepin, forgetful, in his 
desire to serve his people, of the difficulties and 
dangers to be encountered on the way, and of his 
ovm feeble health. In a letter to a friend, the 
good pope described the hardships of this expedi- 
tion in the depths of winter, making mention of 
the snow, the raging torrents, and the atrocious 
mountains.” At length, Stephen arrived at Pont- 
you in Champagne, where Pepin, his family and 
court had assembled, to meet the venerable visitor. 
When the pontiff was seen approaching, Pepin 
dismounted from his horse, and prostrated him- 
self, his example being followed by the royal fam- 
ily and the nobles of the realm. After resting 
in his apartments, to which he had been conducted, 
in the royal palace, Stephen appeared before the 
king as a humble suppliant for aid against the 
Lombards. So deeply were Pepin and his nobles 
moved by the touching appeal of their venerable 
guest, that they immediately took an oath not to 
sheathe the sword until they had subdued the in- 
solent Lombards. 

4 


60 


PEPIN. 


The pope then took up his residence in the mon- 
astery of St. Denis, where he fell seriously ill. 
After his restoration to health, he renewed the 
ceremony of Pepin’s coronation, and also anointed 
the king’s wife. Queen Bertrade, and their two 
sons, Charles or Charlemagne, and Carloman. 
Pepin then started, with his army for Italy, 
Stephen accompanying him. The Alpine passes 
were in the hands of Aistulf, and when the Frank- 
ish army endeavored to seize them, a battle en- 
sued. The Franks made up in courage, what they 
lacked in numbers, and the Lombards were totally 
defeated. Aistulf fled, and took refuge in the 
walled city of Pavia. Pepin pursued the Lom- 
bards, and besieged their capital. Finally, a 
treaty between the Franks and Lombards was ar- 
ranged through the good offices of Stephen. By 
this treaty, Aistulf gave his solemn promise to 
restore Ravenna and the other captured cities, 
delivering hostages to Pepin, who returned with 
them to his dominions. 

Peace having been concluded, Stephen was at 
liberty to return to Rome, where he was received 
by the people with the most extravagant demon- 
strations of joy and gratitude. Our father has 
come back to us,” they cried, after God, he is 
our hope.” But the peace which was inaugurated 
with so much rejoicing, proved to be short-lived. 
The treacherous Aistulf forgot his promises, as 


PEPIN. 


51 


soon as the dreaded Frankish king had returned 
to his own dominions. In January, 755, the 
Lombards laid siege to the city of Rome, invest- 
ing it so cljisely that it was only with the greatest 
difficulty that Stephen could send a message, sum- 
moning Pepin once more to the rescue of the 
Holy See. In his letter to the Frankish king, the 
pontiff says, The impious Aistulf has again laid 
siege to Rome, to whose inhabitants he sent the 
following message, ‘ Open the Salerian gate, give 
me up your pope, or I shall tear down your walls, 
and put you all to the sword.' They have burned 
churches and dwellings," continues the venerable 
writer, violated monasteries, broken the sacred 
images and outraged the Holy Mysteries. Chil- 
dren have been murdered at the mother's breast, 
and now, to the horrors of war are added the pangs 
of hunger. The Lombards taunt us with the cry 
* Let your Franks come on now, your brave de- 
liverers, let them snatch you from our grasp, if 
they can.' Hasten then, beloved Prince, to our 
rescue." 

Immediately after receiving this letter, Pepin 
crossed the Alps with his army, meeting Aistulf, 
who had hastened northward, at Pavia. There a 
second great victory was won over the Lombards, 
whose king Aistulf was killed by his horse falling 
on him. All the twenty-two cities which had been 
in possession of the Lombards, were surrendered 


52 


PEPIN. 


to Pepin, who formally presented the keys to 
Stephen. The Frankish king considered it but 
just that the pontiff, having all the anxieties and 
cares of a temporal government, should possess 
the territory also, and, accordingly, the exarchate 
of Rome and Ravenna was given to the pope 
and the Papal States, a territory about the size 
of Maryland came thus into existence, in the year 
756. From that remote period until the year 
1870, when the Italian king, Victor Emmanuel, 
annexed the Papal States to his own dominions, 
the popes of the Catholic Church had been the 
temporal rulers of that territory. 

After Pepin had accomplished his great work, 
the delivery of Rome from the Lombards, and the 
establishment of the temporal power of the popes, 
he returned to his kingdom, where he was soon 
engaged in a war with the Saxons, whose territory 
adjoined his dominions on the north-east. Pepin 
was victorious, and the Saxons were made vassals 
or tributaries of the Franks. Waisar, Duke of 
Aquitania, was the next enemy to be conquered, 
although this proved a much more difficult task 
than the subjugation of the Saxons. Waisar 
fought long and bravely, but was at length killed 
by his own subjects, and the Franks enjoyed a 
much-needed and unusual peace. 

Shortly after these events, Pepin died, leaving 
his dominions to his illustrious son, Charle- 


PEPIN. 53 

magne, who had already distinguished himself in 
the last wars waged by his father. 

The reign of Pepin forms an interesting and 
important epoch in history, especially, to Catho- 
lics, for during it the temporal power of the 
papacy was established. The conversion of a 
large part of heathen Germany was also brought 
about through the pious efforts of this great and 
wise ruler of the Franks. 


CHAELEMAGNE. 

Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, was a son 
of Pepin the Short, and succeeded to the throne, 
on the death of his father, in the year 7 68. The 
Frankish kingdom at that time comprised a large 
territory. It extended from the Kiver Loire, in 
France, to the Ehine, in Germany, and from the 
Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean. 

The young king was very anxious to spread the 
True Faith among the heathen nations whose 
territory adjoined his own dominions. St. Boni- 
face, for whom his father Pepin had evidenced 
a great admiration, appeared peculiarly fitted for 
the difficult and dangerous work, and Charle- 
magne sent the venerable bishop with a number 
of companions to preach the faith to the fierce 
and cruel Saxons. These heathens persisted in 
their error with great obstinacy, and absolutely 
refused to give up their idols, especially one for 
which they had a particular veneration. It was 
called the Irmensul, and had been raised by the 
Germans to their god, Teutas. This statue was 
54 


CHARLEMAGNE. 


65 


armed and held a pair of scales in the left hand, 
and in the right, a banner. On its buckler was 
the figure of a lion, and about its feet, a flowery 
meadow. It was the figure or representation of 
Saxony, whose flowery meadows were inhabited 
by a people with lion hearts, having for their only 
rule of justice the sword. 

Charlemagne led his army into Saxony, and 
overthrew and shattered the Irmensul, believing 
that, if the idol were destroyed, the people would 
embrace Christianity more readily. St. Boniface 
persisted in his labors, and, at length, had the 
satisfaction of bringing the Saxons, as well as 
other German tribes, to the True Faith. 

Witikind, the Saxon chief, was an inveterate 
enemy of Christianity, and of the Franks as well. 
The story of his conversion is very interesting. 
One Easter-day the royal guards brought to 
Charlemagne, a beggar, who had stood all day at 
the palace-gate soliciting alms. A Frankish 
nobleman, who had accompanied Charlemagne on 
his expedition into Saxony, had stopped to give 
the pretended beggar a piece of money, and, in 
so doing, had remarked a peculiar deformity of 
the man’s right hand, which he had often noticed 
in the fights with the Saxons. The beggar was 
Witikind, the Saxon chief. 

For what reason do you wear this disguise ? 
asked Charlemagne. Witikind answered that, 


56 


CHARLEMAGNE. 


wishing to examine the ceremonies of the Chris- 
tian’s church, he desired a disguise that would 
more easily further his purpose. He then told 
Charlemagne that on Good-Friday he had ob- 
served every face clouded with sadness. On Sat- 
urday, all were thoughtful and recollected, but on 
Sunday, when Charlemagne and his nobles ap- 
proached the table in the midst of the temple (the 
altar) he noticed their faces so lighted up with 
joy, that he was at a loss to understand the reason, 
until he saw the priest place upon the tongue of 
each one an infant bathed in heavenly brightness. 

Prostrate,” he continued, I adored your God, 
who shall henceforth be my God also.” 

Happy are you,” cried Charlemagne, “ Who, 
in witnessing a miracle, have enjoyed a favor 
granted neither to me, nor to my priests.” 

Witikind was instructed in the faith and bap- 
tized, his zeal causing many of his people to fol- 
low his example. Charlemagne lost no time in 
notifying the pope of this happy event, begging 
him to order, in all the churches of Pome, prayers 
of solemn thanksgiving to Almighty God for Witi- 
kind’ s conversion. 

When Witikind died, Charlemagne divided 
Saxony into five bishoprics, giving to the bishops 
much power in the government of the people, who 
were far more docile under the mild rule of these 
ecclesiastical superiors, than they would have 


CHARLEMAGNE. 


67 


been, if they had been governed by the fierce and 
quarrelsome Frankish nobles. The sees of Koln, 
Trier and Metz were formed at that time. 

While the king of the Franks was occupied 
with the cares and responsibilities of the govern- 
ment, and with the conversion of his Saxon neigh- 
bors, great events were taking place in far away 
Italy. 

Those ancient enemies of the Holy See, the 
Lombards, led by their cruel king, Desiderius, 
were again threatening Rome, and Pope Adrian I, 
in great alarm, sent a message to Charlemagne, 
describing the atrocities committed against the 
Romans by the impious ruler of the Lombards. 
Several Roman nobles had been captured, and 
their eyes put out at the command of Desiderius, 
who had even the temerity to attempt the life of 
the pontiff, himself. Under pretence of holding 
a conference with the pope, Desiderius met him 
in the church of St. Peter, and during the inter- 
view departed suddenly, and closed and secured 
all the doors, thus making a prisoner of the pope, 
whom he intended to starve to death. The plan 
miscarried, owing to the fidelity and courage of 
some citizens of Rome, who liberated Adrian 
from his perilous position. 

Charlemagne, justly incensed against the 
treacherous Lombards, lost no time in leading an 
armed force against them. Crossing the Alps, 


58 


CHARLEMAGNE. 


he besieged Pavia and Verona, which finally sur- 
rendered. Desiderius was deposed, his son fled 
to Constantinople, and the Lombard power was 
forever crushed by the brave Charlemagne, who 
took the title — King of the Lombards. Charle- 
magne crowned himself with the iron crown of 
Lombardy — so-called because it had a piece of 
iron,^ supposed to be a nail of the true cross im- 
bedded in the golden circlet forming the crown. 

After the fall of Pavia, Charlemagne went 
to Kome, where a cordial reception awaited him. 
He walked beside the pope in a great procession, 
to the Vatican hill, where, mounting the stair- 
case, he reverently kissed each stair, in veneration 
of the holy men who had walked there before him. 

Upon Charlemagne’s return to his dominions, 
he invaded Spain, which had fallen into the hands 
of the Moors, and marched with his army to 
Saragossa. There an indecisive battle took place, 
and before Charlemagne could continue hostile- 
ties, he was compelled, by the arrival of alarming 
news from the northern part of his dominions, to 
start at once for France. The army pursued its 
way unmolested, until the country of the Gas- 
cons was reached. Since their conquest by 
Pepin, the Gascons had been constantly trying to 
throw off the Frankish yoke and they considered 
that their opportunity had at length arrived. In 
the deep mountain pass of Roncesvalles, in the 


CHARLEMAGNE. 


69 


Pyrenees, they prepared an ambuscade for the 
Frankish troops. Charlemagne with the van- 
guard of the army, passed in safety, but the rear, 
led by a general named Roland, while passing 
through a narrow defile, between lofty precipices, 
were suddenly assailed by ponderous stones, trees 
and other objects hurled from above by the Gas- 
cons. The Frankish soldiers, taken completely 
by surprise and weighted with their heavy armor, 
could not escape. The path was soon blocked with 
the dead and dying, and not a man of all the com- 
pany was saved, although they fought with fero- 
cious energy until the last one fell. This sad 
event was kept alive from generation to genera- 
tion in the song and story of the Provencal min- 
strels, and the brave Roland and his men became 
the popular heroes. 

To the eastward of Charlemagne’s dominions, 
were a wild people of the Tartar race, the Avari, 
who were a constant menace to Charlemagne’s 
subjects living near them. The Frankish king 
conducted a war, lasting several years, against 
them, resulting finally in their total defeat. The 
Avari were converted to Christianity through the 
untiring efforts of Virgilius, Bishop of Salzburg. 
The efforts of this good prelate were constantly 
directed towards upholding the rights of the 
peasantry against the powerful nobles. Tlie cere- 
monies attending the election of a duke of Carin- 


f 


60 


CHARLEMAGNE. 


thia, dated from that time, and were observed 
for centuries. The furgenstein ” or prince’s 
stone may still be seen near Clagen. A peasant, 
seated upon this stone, commanded that the newly- 
elected duke he brought before him. “ Who is he 
that comes so proudly ? ” asked the peasant, to 
which the people answered, Our country’s lord.” 

Is he a righteous judge, a defender of widows 
and orphans, an upholder of Christianity ^ ” was 
the next question put by the peasant judge. When 
the people answered in the affirmative, the peasant 
arose, and yielded his seat on the stone to the 
duke, first giving him a box on the ear. 

Charlemagne held his court at Paderborn, when 
peace reigned throughout his kingdom. He had 
reached the pinnacle of his greatness, and showed 
himself no less great in peace than he had been 
in war. He was exceedingly anxious that the 
youth of the period should be given every oppor- 
tunity of acquiring a good education — a privilege 
which had been denied to preceding generations. 
As there were few native Frankish teachers, 
Charlemagne offered great inducements to the 
scholars of Italy, and even of distant England, to 
come to his dominions and teach the young Franks. 
Alcuin, the noted British scholar and writer, was 
one of these teachers. 

Upon one occasion, after his return from a 
journey, Charlemagne called together his young 


CHARLEMAGNE. 


61 


students, to inquire how they had progressed dur- 
ing his absence. He found that the young men of 
the lower classes had been very diligent, while 
their noble companions had not made nearly _so 
much progress. This provoked the good king, 
who reprimanded the lazy students, telling them 
that they relied for advancement on their noble 
names and rich clothing. I care nothing for 
these things,’^ he continued, and, unless you 
change speedily, you will get jiothing good from 
Charles.” To the studious scholars, he promised 
rich rewards and praised them for their industry. 

Charlemagne tried to repair his own neglected 
education, and acquired a fair knowledge of Latin, 
Greek, astronomy and rhetoric, but could never 
learn to write, in spite of the fact that he labored 
diligently. He kept his tablets and pencil under 
his pillow, so that he could practise writing, be- 
fore rising in the morning. 

Many distinguished visitors flocked to Pader- 
born to pay court to the great monarch. The 
Turkish caliph, Haroun A1 Kaschid, sent an emis- 
sary with rich presents — an elephant, a set of 
jeweled chess-men, and a curious clock, so con- 
trived that twelve little figures of knights 
emerged from it, and paraded upon the striking 
of the hour. 

Charlemagne had the satisfaction of entertain- 
ing a no less honored guest than the venerable 


02 


CHARLEMAGNE. 


pontiff, Leo III, who had made his escape from 
Rome during an insurrection, in the course of 
which two attempts were made upon his life. 
Leo resolved to apply for aid to the great monarch 
who had ever been the friend and protector of the 
Holy See. He made his way to Paderborn where 
Charlemagne, his family, the army and court, all 
assembled to meet him. As soon as the pope ap- 
peared, the great multitude prostrated themselves 
three times before the Vicar of Christ. Three 
times the pontiff gave them his blessing. He then 
embraced Charlemagne, who led him to the church 
of Paderborn, where a service of thanksgiving 
was performed. This interview had a great effect 
upon the pope^s enemies in Rome, who feared the 
sword of Charlemagne, and, a few months later, 
Leo returned in triumph to his pontifical city. 
Charlemagne followed the pope to Rome, and, on 
Christmas day, 800, a great ceremony took place 
in the basilica of St. Peter. This was the anoint- 
ing of the Frankish monarch, whom the pontiff 
crowned King of the Roman Empire of the West. 
When the crown was placed upon the brow of the 
kneeling Charlemagne, the lofty arches of St. 
PetePs rang with the cry Long life and victory 
to the most pious Carolus Augustus, the Caesar,” 
and from that time the emperors of Germany 
have borne the title of Kaiser or Caesar. 

Charlemagne spent the last years of his life 


CHARLEMAGNE. 


63 


arranging for the education of his subjects, and 
for their advancement in the knowledge of the 
useful arts. The women were taught weaving, 
sewing and embroidering. Even the princesses 
of the royal family made their own clothing. 
Agriculture was taught by foreign gardeners, who 
were induced, by the promise of liberal rewards, 
to come to the Frankish kingdom. It is probable 
that the grape-vine was first planted in Germany 
during the reign of Charlemagne. We have seen 
how solicitous he was for the education of the 
young people of his realm. Even the hostages of 
war were sent to school. The arts of music and 
poetry were not neglected, and many Latin and 
Greek works were translated into the Frankish 
language. 

It was during the beneficent reign of Charle- 
magne that the Germans began to relinquish their 
former rough mode of life, and to show a taste 
for the fine arts, as they were known at that time, 
as well as a love of civilization and refinement. 
The emperor^s own palace at Aix-la-Chapelle was 
considered so wonderfully magnificent, that it was 
compared to the papal palace, and received the 
name of Little Rome.” Another of the royal 
castles was at Ingelheim, on the Rhine. Some of 
the beautiful columns which formed a part of it 
may still be seen in the court of the old castle at 
Heidelberg. 


64 


CHARLEMAGNE. 


Charlemagne was an advocate of simplicity in 
dress, especially for men, and one day, when his 
nobles appeared before him dressed in costly silks 
and satins, he mockingly led them out into a pour- 
ing rain, and kept them there until all their fine 
clothes were quite spoiled. The great Frankish 
king was seven feet tall, and possessed wonderful 
strength. He wielded his heavy iron lance as if 
it had been a feather, and excelled in feats of 
strength and agility. His prowess at the tourna- 
ments excited the wonder and admiration of all 
spectators. 

In January, 814, the great emperor fell ill, 
and as his malady increased, he made his prepara- 
tions for death. Taking his only sundving son 
Ludwig to the cathedral of Aachen, he bade the 
young man swear, before the high altar, to serve 
God, to watch over and love his subjects, to live 
a holy life and to protect the Church. Charle- 
magne then took his crown from the high altar, 
and solemnly placed it on the head of Ludwig, 
whom he proclaimed emperor of the Franks. The 
pious monarch viewed his approaching death 
with Christian fortitude. The viaticum was ad- 
ministered by Hildebold, Archbishop of Cologne, 
after which the dying Charlemagne summoned all 
his remaining strength to pronounce the words, 
“ Into Thy hands, 0 Lord, I commend my spirit.’’ 


CHARLEMAGNE. 


65 


His death occurred in the seventieth year of his 
age, and the forty-seventh of his reign. 

The body of Charlemagne v^as placed into the 
crypt beneath the dome of the basilica at Aix-la- 
Chapelle, not in a recumbent attitude, but seated 
erect in a marble chair, as if the great king were 
giving audience. He was interred, dressed in his 
royal robes, his sword at his side, and a copy of 
the Gospels on his knees. On the stone which 
closed the tomb were these words, Beneath this 
tomb lies the body of Charles the Great, who 
gloriously extended the kingdom of the Franks, 
and ruled it fortunately for forty-seven years. 

A great French writer has paid a glowing 
tribute in one of his works to Charlemagne, to 
whom he refers as ** a great monarch, who made 
admirable laws, and put them into execution — 
a master in the art of doing the greatest deeds 
with ease, and the most difficult with readiness. 
If he knew how to punish, he knew still better 
how to pardon.” 

The Church, whose champion Charlemagne had 
always been, honored him by placing his statue 
in the portico of St. PeteFs at Kome, where it 
remains to this day, a memorial of the gratitude 
of the Holy See to the noble monarch of the 
Franks. 

5 


ST. HENKY. 


St. Henry was the son of Henry the Wrangler, 
so-called on account of his quarrelsome disposi- 
tion. This headstrong noble had aspired to the 
throne of Germany, on the death of the emperor, 
Otto II, hut being finally convinced of the futility 
of pressing his claim against the rightful heir, 
Otto III, abandoned his pretensions, and finally 
took the oath of allegiance. 

Otto had but little desire to begin his reign with 
a civil war, and, was, in consequence, so grateful 
to the quarrelsome Henry, for yielding to him, 
that he rewarded him with the splendid dukedom 
of Bavaria. Thus St. Henry became, on the death 
of his father, Duke of Bavaria. 

Otto III died at the early age of twenty-nine. 
He was called the Wonder, on account of his great 
learning. Being part Italian, and having a strong 
predilection for everything pertaining to Italy, 
he was not very popular with his German subjects, 
who were really hut slightly acquainted with him, 
as the greater part of his short life had been spent 
away from his dominions in Germany. 

66 


ST. HENRY. 


67 

Otto died childless, and, as it had been the cus- 
tom, since the fourth century, to elect an emperor, 
when there was no direct heir to the German 
throne, Henry was chosen to fill the exalted posi- 
tion, in spite of the fact that there were, besides 
himself, two aspirants to the throne. Hermann of 
Swabia and Eckhardt of Meissen were both older 
than the young Duke of Bavaria, and more nearly 
allied to the imperial house. 

It was fortunate indeed for Germany that 
neither one of these turbulent nobles was elected. 
Eckhardt, in particular, was a very fiery-tempered 
and unreasonable man, a fact which he demon- 
strated clearly in his treatment of Sophia and 
Adelheid, sisters of Otto III. Upon the death of 
their brother, these princesses were very active in 
forwarding the interests of Henry, whom they 
wished to succeed Otto. This rendered Eckhardt 
so furious that he forced his way into their dining- 
apartment, one day, while they were at dinner, 
and destroyed their meal. 

Henry was surnamed der Eromme, or the Pious, 
and was from his early childhood remarkable 
for the sanctity of his life. He was kneeling one 
day, absorbed in prayer, before the Blessed Sac- 
rament, when he saw, in a vision, his patron, St. 
Wolfgang, who pointed to the words — After 8ix. 
Henry supposed the meaning of this, to be, that 
after six years he would die, and accordingly 


68 


ST. HENRY. 


began bis preparation for death. At the end of 
the six years, he was elected Emperor of Ger- 
many, and assumed his new and unlooked-for dig- 
nity with the sole idea of reigning for the greater 
honor and glory of God, and for the good of his 
subjects. He was crowned in the year 1002, first 
at Mayence, and afterwards at Aix-la-Chapelle. 

Henry came to the throne in troublous times. 
The pagan Slavs were despoiling northern Ger- 
many and striking terror into the hearts of the 
people. The newly-elected emperor marched 
against them with a force so inferior in numbers 
to the enemy, that it would have been impossible 
for him to gain the victory by natural means. 
Almighty God did not desert his faithful serv- 
ant. Angels were seen guiding* the German 
troops, who won an overwhelming victory over 
the Slavs. It was not only a temporal victory, 
but a spiritual one, also, for the Slav leader 
Mistevoi embraced Christianity and suffered ban- 
ishment from his country rather than renounce 
the True Faith. 

It was after this war, that Henry gave, as a 
token of gratitude to the Danes, who had assisted 
him, permission to found the first independent 
archbishopric in Denmark — that of Lunden. Up 
to this time the Catholic Danes had been under 
the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Hamburg. 

After Henry had subdued the Slavs, he found 


ST. HENRY. 


69 


himself forced to defend his kingdom from an 
invasion of the Poles and Bohemians, whose 
country adjoined his dominions on the East. Dur- 
ing these wars, the castle of Meissen was set on 
fire. As all the men were fighting, the women 
bravely battled with the flames, which they finally 
extinguished by pouring mead upon the fire, after 
they had exhausted the supply of water. Peace 
was declared between Germany and Poland in 
the year 1018. 

Since the time of Charlemagne, northern Italy 
had been under the dominion of the German em- 
perors. The Italians did not take kindly to the 
idea of being ruled by a foreign emperor, and 
were constantly trying to achieve their independ- 
ence. Henry had taken part in a war with the 
Italians, during the reign of his predecessor, Otto 
III, and shortly after his own accession to the 
throne another Italian revolt broke out. Henry 
marched into Italy, put down the rebellion, and 
was crowned king at Pavia. He had just arrived 
in Germany on his return from the Italian cam- 
paign, when news of a second revolution in Italy 
was brought to him. 

He set out, at once, with his army for Italy, 
and again won a victory over the Italian rebels. 
Henry then proceeded to Rome. It was the saint’s 
custom, whenever he reached a strange city, to 
spend the first night in prayer before the altar of 


no 


ST. HENRY. 


a church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. The 
first night of his arrival in Kome, he was praying 
in the church of St. Mary Major, when he saw 
in a vision Our Lord enter to say Mass. Saint 
Lawrence assisted as deacon, while numbers of 
saints filled the church, and angels sang in the 
choir. 

The saintly emperor was received by the pope, 
with every mark of distinction. The Empress 
Cunigunda had accompanied her husband to 
Rome, and shared the honors conferred upon him. 
The royal couple were crowned by the pontiff, 
who bestowed upon Henry, the golden ball, as 
a symbol of the globe over which he was worthy to 
rule. 

In 1021, the good emperor’s assistance was nec- 
essary, to subdue the Greeks in southern Italy, 
who had revolted, aided and abetted by the Italian 
Duke of Capua. It was observed how miracu- 
lously the mere presence of Henry brought vic- 
tory to the side whose cause he espoused, and the 
Greeks, fearing to fight longer against an adver- 
sary whom God favored so signally, soon surren- 
dered. 

After Henry’s victory over the Greeks, and 
while the army was still in southern Italy, a fear- 
ful epidemic broke out, among the troops. Those 
hardy northern soldiers, unaccustomed to the 
enervating climate, and the fiery sun of that coun- 


ST. HENRY. 


ri 


try of the South, could not resist the ravages of 
the disease, and numbers perished. Henry re- 
turned, with the remnant of the army, which had 
escaped the plague, to Germany, where fresh 
troubles awaited him. 

Disturbances had arisen in the Netherlands, 
where a robbery committed upon some merchants 
by the Frisii, had occasioned a bitter quarrel be- 
tween Dietrich, Graf of Holland, and Gottfried 
of Lothringia. The two enemies met, with their 
forces, at Merwe, where an engagement took place, 
resulting in the total defeat of Gottfried. By the 
exercise of tact and patience, Henry finally 
brought about peace between the belligerents. 

Henryks sister, Gisela, was the wife of the Hun- 
garian king, Stephen, who is a canonized saint of 
the Church. Hungary owes her conversion to 
Christianity to the efforts of Stephen and Henry, 
who spared no pains nor labor to bring the pagan 
Hungarians to the knowledge of the True Faith. 

The career of Henry had hitherto allowed him 
but little time or opportunity for the gratifica- 
tion of his fondest wish — the aggrandizement of 
the Church in Germany. After the conclusion 
of peace in Holland, he began to build churches 
and monasteries, and to endow bishoprics. He 
considered that his ancestors had obtained pos- 
session, unjustly, of the lands of Bamberg, and he, 
accordingly, endowed a bishopric, with this prop- 


72 


ST. HENRY. 


erty, building upon it a splendid cathedral, 
where he and his wife, St. Cunigunda, are in- 
terred. On account of his munificence to the 
Church, St. Henry is generally represented hold- 
ing in his hand, a miniature cathedral. 

Visitors to the quaint old town of Bamberg 
may see, in the cathedral founded by St. Henry, 
his tomb and that of St. Cunigunda, with their 
effigies and scenes from their lives sculptured in 
limestone. There is a representation of St. 
Henry cured by St. Benedict of an illness, and 
another of St. Cunigunda paying the workmen 
who built the cathedral. 

Bamberg has always been a great Catholic city 
and contains, besides numerous churches, Catholic 
schools and libraries, a celebrated seminary for 
the education of young men for the priesthood. 
The visitor to this ancient city is everywhere re- 
minded of the good saints who were called, so 
many centuries ago, to their heavenly reward, but 
whose influence for good still lives. In the center 
of the Maximilians-Platz, there is a fountain, 
above which are statues of St Henry and St. 
Cunigunda. In the library are displayed the 
prayer-books used by the emperor and empress, 
and the finely illuminated parchments, donated 
by Henry to the diocese of Bamberg. 

St. Cunigunda is one of the most illustrious of 
the women saints of the Church, and led an ex- 


ST. HENRY. 


73 


tremely holy and mortified life. Being accused, 
unjustly, of a great sin, she boldly offered to 
prove her innocence by walking over red-hot plow- 
shares, in the presence of her husband and the 
court. Almighty God was pleased to testify to 
her innocence by a miracle, for she stepped bare- 
foot on to the seething iron as if it had been a 
velvet carpet, without the slightest hurt or incon- 
venience, and her calumniators never again dared 
call into question the sanctity of Cunigunda. 

After her husband’s death, the holy empress 
renounced the world, and took the vows of a Bene- 
dictine nun, edifying all her sisters in religion 
by her humility and obedience to her superiors. 
She was most industrious, laboring constantly 
for the poor, or embroidering vestments for the 
service of the altar. Cunigunda was fond of 
quoting from the epistle of St. Paul, He who 
will not work, neither let him eat.” 

St. Henry was once seized with a great weari- 
ness and disgust for the pomps and vanities of' the 
world. He went to the monastery of Verdun, 
intending to renounce the world and take the vows 
of a monk. The abbot pretended to accede to 
Henry’s request to be admitted to the monastery 
as a novice, and gave him a lecture on the import- 
ance and necessity of obedience in the religious 
life. St. Henry supposed that the abbot intended 
to try his vocation by giving him some re- 


u 


ST. HENRY. 


pulsive or difficult task to perform, but imagine 
his surprise, when the sermon was concluded in 
these words; Now, my son, I command thee to 
return to thy people, and to fulfil perfectly all 
the duties of the exalted station in life to which 
God has called thee. The emperor comes to 
learn obedience, and he practices this lesson by 
ruling wisely.” 

Henry obediently left the monastery, and tak- 
ing up the burden of his duties, abandoned all 
idea of becoming a monk. 

In the year 1024, St. Henry went to pay a visit 
to his great friend, the pious King Robert 
of France, who received the distinguished guest 
with every demonstration of joy. This was the 
last meeting of the two friends, upon earth, for 
Henry was taken ill, shortly after his return to 
Germany, and died, in the twenty-second year 
of his reign. 

St. Henry was a beautiful example of detach- 
ment of heart amid the cares and distractions of 
the world. His motto was, Never be overfond 
of anything, then wilt thou never grieve,” a 
counsel which he followed all his life. From his 
early youth, he dedicated himself to the service 
of God, and, although a monastic state would have 
been more to his liking than the mode of life he 
was obliged to follow at court, he readily aban- 
doned his own will, to do the will of God. 


ST. HENRY. 


76 


His zeal for the spread of the True Faith is 
evidenced in the conversion of the countries bor- 
dering on his dominions. In his own kingdom, 
where the people were already Catholic, his be- 
nignant rule brought a universal increase of piety 
and fervor. 

St. Henry was canonized during the pontificate 
of Eugenius III, and his remains rest beside those 
of his wife in the cathedral of Bamberg, which 
the saintly pair erected and endowed. 

After her husband’s death, St. Cunigunda con- 
ferred upon Conrad, whom Henry had chosen for 
his successor, the royal insignia. Then repairing 
to the cathedral, she laid aside her crown and royal 
robes, to assume the coarse habit of a novice of the 
Benedictine order. She cast aside her crown and 
jewels with so much contempt, that the spec- 
tators were moved to tears. The pious empress 
entered the monastery which she had founded at 
Kaifungen, and edified all her sisters in religion 
by her strict observance of the rules of the order. 
Cunigunda passed fifteen years of her life, in the 
practice of all the virtues of the religious state. 

When the saint lay upon her death-bed, her 
weeping companions began to prepare a rich cloth 
fringed with gold, with which they intended to 
cover her body after^ death. As soon as Cuni- 
gunda noticed these preparations, she showed 
signs of great distress and ordered the cloth re- 


76 


ST. HENRY. 


moved. She could not rest until a promise had 
been made that she should be buried in the coarse 
habit of the Benedictine nun. She was interred 
beside St. Henry, and was canonized by Pope 
Innocent III, in the year 1200. 

In the holy lives of St. Henry and St. Cuni- 
gunda, we learn the effect of good example. Prob- 
ably neither would have been so great a saint, 
without the encouragement and assistance of the 
other in the practice of virtue. In the midst of 
the pomps and vanities of a royal court, they led 
lives as mortified as any community of religious 
in a monastery, and their beautiful and pious 
characters are an honor to the great country whose 
history they adorn so well. 


RICHAED CCEUR DE LIOK. 


Richard Plantagenet^ surnamed Coeur de 
Lion, or Lion-heart, was born at Oxford, that 
ancient seat of English learning, September 8, 
1157. He was the third son of King Henry II of 
England and his French wife, Eleanor of Aqui- 
taine. With two elder brothers having a prior 
claim to the throne, there was but slight probabil- 
ity of Richard’s ever becoming king of England, 
so the title of Duke of Aquitaine was conferred 
upon him, and he was sent to France to be edu- 
cated. 

The course of training for a young nobleman 
of the twelfth century was very severe. At the 
age of seven, he was taken from the women who 
had had entire charge of him, and given over to 
the guidance of men, whose duty it was to train 
him in all kinds of athletics, such as leaping, run- 
ning, the use of arms and other accomplishments 
deemed necessary to the education of a knight. 
Richard began very early to excel in all deeds 
of prowess. While still a young boy, he could 
mount a galloping horse, climb a tall ladder by 
77 


78 


RICHARD CCEUR DE LION. 


means of his hands only and perform various 
other feats of valor and strength. At the age of 
fourteen, he acquired the rank and title of squire, 
and at twenty-one, the degree of knighthood. The 
conferring of knighthood was a solemn ceremony 
having something of a religious character. The 
young candidate, fasting and solitary, watched 
beside his weapons all night in a chapel contain- 
ing the Blessed Sacrament. In the morning, he 
assisted at a solemn high mass, said by the bishop, 
assisted by numerous priests. At the conclusion 
of the Mass, the young aspirant advanced to the 
altar, with his sword suspended about his neck. 
Handing his weapon to the bishop, he stood, with 
modest mien, during the ceremony of its conse- 
cration. This concluded, he listened to a sermon 
in the course of which he was told that he who 
aspires to be a knight must have great qualities. 
He must be bountiful in giving, high in courage, 
strong in danger, secret in council, patient in 
difficulties, prudent in all his deeds.” Then the 
candidate took his oath that he would observe 
certain rules : to spare neither his blood nor his 
life for the Catholic Faith, and for the defence of 
the Church, to give aid to widows and orphans, to 
protect the innocent and the oppressed, to be 
humble in all things and to live irreproachably 
before God and man.” Then the young candi- 
date’s godfather in arms advanced and striking 


RICHARD CCEUR DE LION. 


Y9 


him with his sword, said, In the name of God, 
St. Michael and St. George, I dub thee knight, be 
loyal, bold and true.^’ The ceremony concluded 
with the buckling on of the sword and golden 
spurs, which only a knight was permitted to wear. 

Eichard^s father, Henry II, was a man of 
strong passions, and possessed such a violent tem- 
per, that, in his fits of anger, he would roll on the 
floor and bite the rushes with which it was strewn. 
A man who cannot control himself, will generally 
find it impossible to control those over whom he 
has authority, and so it proved with this turbu- 
lent and fiery-tempered king. Eichard and his 
brothers, Henry and Geoffrey, aided by the 
French king, rose in revolt against their father, 
and strove to take from him his territory of Poi- 
tou in France. This strange war between father 
and sons continued for several years, and before 
its conclusion, Henry and Geoffrey both died. 
Eichard afterwards repented bitterly of his un- 
filial conduct, and, shortly before his death, di- 
rected that his body be buried at the feet of his 
father, in token of submission to him. Henry II 
died in the year 1189 and was succeeded by Eich- 
ard. At that time, nearly all of Europe was en- 
gaged in a crusade, or war against the Turks, 
who were in possession of the Holy Land. A 
monk, called Peter the Hermit, having gone on a 
pilgrimage to the holy places in and near Jeru- 


80 


RICHARD CCEUR DE LION. 


Salem, was so much grieved by the infamous man- 
ner in which Christian pilgrims were treated by 
the Turks, that he resolved to return to Europe, 
describe what he had witnessed, and call for an 
army to battle for the rights of Christians in the 
Holy Land. The pope encouraged him and mar- 
velous success attended his preaching. At one 
place in Italy, after he had concluded his sermon, 
the great audience shouted with one accord it 
is the will of God,” and thousands came forward 
to receive the badge of the crusader, a cross worn 
upon the arm. 

The crusades had been going on with varying 
success for two years, when Richard ascended the 
throne of England. It was not to be expected 
that a king of Richard’s brave and chivalrous 
nature, would remain quietly at home during 
the crusades. He assembled a band of warriors, 
and set sail for the Holy Land, soon after his 
coronation. Although the lion-hearted monarch 
started on his journey, a bachelor, he had no in- 
tention of arriving at the end of it, in that state. 
During his long absence from England, he had 
formed the acquaintance of a good and beautiful 
Spanish princess, Berengaria, of Havarre, whom 
he wished to marry. Queen Eleanor was dis- 
patched to Havarre, to press her son’s suit, while 
Richard pursued his way, with the army to Italy, 
where he had agreed to await his mother’s arrival 


RICHARD CCEUR DE LION. 


81 


from Spain. In due time, the queen joined her 
son, bringing with her, his promised bride, Ber- 
engaria. As it was the season of Lent, the wed- 
ding of Richard and Berengaria could not be sol- 
emnized immediately, but the journey to the Holy 
Land could be delayed no longer, so the English 
fleet set sail from Italy. Berengaria was placed 
in the care of Joanna, Queen of Sicily, Richard^s 
sister, and the ladies were assigned to one of the 
best vessels, while Richard led the fleet in his own 
ship, the Trenc-the-Mer, or Cut-the-sea, which 
bore a great lantern attached to her mast, to guide 
the fleet in the darkness of night. 

King Philip Augustus, of France, had already 
laid siege to the Syrian city of Acre, and Rich- 
ard, consumed with impatience to reach the seat 
of hostilities, was making all possible speed, when 
a frightful storm overtook the fleet, in the course 
or which the vessel bearing Joanna and Beren- 
garia became separated from the others. The 
ladies, in the utmost alarm, finally reached the 
port of Limoussa, in Cyprus, where their vessel 
cast anchor. 

Isaac, the lord of Cyprus, went to meet the 
storm-tossed travelers whom he treated civilly 
enough, at first. When he was told that Beren- 
garia was the destined bride of Richard, he be- 
came very angry and acted in such a threatening 
manner, that it was deemed prudent by those in 
6 


82 


RICHARD CCEUR DE LION. 


charge of the princesses vessel to put out to sea 
without delay. In the meantime, Richard had 
mustered his fleet, and discovered two vessels 
missing, one bearing his bride and his sister, and 
the other, the chancellor of England and the great 
seal of state. The latter vessel had been lost, with 
all on board. Richard at once began a search for 
the missing vessels, and, drawing near to Cyprus, 
was overjoyed to see the galley of Berengaria. He 
was very much incensed at the ruler of Cyprus, 
when he learned how his sister and bride had 
been treated, and leaped, armed as he was, into 
a small boat which he ordered to be rowed ashore 
with all speed. He found Isaac and some of his 
people plundering the wreck of the English chan- 
cellor’s vessel. Richard sent a message to the Cy- 
priot, asking from whom he received the privi- 
lege of plundering English vessels. Isaac an- 
swered that whatever the sea cast upon his is- 
land, he would take without asking leave of any 
man.” Richard said that the plunder would be 
dearly bought and holding his battle-ax aloft, he 
led his soldiers to the attack. Isaac and his sub- 
jects were greatly alarmed and hastily sought 
places of refuge. They made their escape to the 
mountains and Richard easily captured the city 
of Limoussa. 

The coast being clear, Richard signaled the 
vessel of J oanna and Berengaria to come in to the 


RICHARD CCEUR DE LION. 


83 


harbor, and great was the joy of the English when 
their king’s afUanced bride landed safely, after 
the many perils to which she had been exposed. 

: Preparations were at once begun for the marriage 
of Richard and Berengaria, which was celebrated 
in Limoussa, amid great rejoicing. The wedding 
was followed by a grand coronation, for the Cy- 
priots, weary of their despotic ruler, Isaac, were 
glad to place themselves under the authority of 
Richard. Accordingly, he was crowned king of 
Cyprus, and Berengaria, queen of England and 
Cyprus. The king wore, at the coronation, a satin 
tunic and a mantle of silver tissue embroidered in 
crescents. His sword had a hilt of gold, and his 
horse was bitted with the same precious metal. 
His saddle was inlaid with jewels, and had, in 
place of a crupper, two little golden lions with 
upraised paws. Berengaria was also magnifi- 
cently dressed and mounted. 

After the wedding of Richard and Berengaria, 
they continued the long-delayed journey to Pal- 
estine, and as the weather was serene, and the 
wind favorable, they landed without further ac- 
cident. When the Trenc-the-Mer hove in sight, 
the whole Christian army marched to the beach, 
with music and waving banners, to welcome the 
lion-hearted king, who had come to aid them in 
their struggle for the possession of the Holy 
Land. It was said that the earth shook with the 


84 


RICHARD CCEUR DE LION. 


footsteps of the Christians, and that their shouts 
of joy could be heard for many miles. 

Shortly after the arrival of the English in 
Palestine, the city of Acre Avas captured by the 
Christians, and Kichard left Berengaria there, 
while he went into camp with the army. I^ear the 
mosque, at Acre, there are the ruins of a building 
called to this day. King Kichard^s palace. It was, 
doubtless, the home of Berengaria during the 
crusade in which her husband took part. 

The record of Pichardos valiant deeds would fill 
a volume. Pie assisted in the capture of Ascalon, 
and took part in the battle of Jaffa where his 
good horse, Fanuelle was killed. This animal 
shared his master’s fame in the songs of the trou- 
badors of the period, and the name of Eanuelle 
was almost as well known as that of Bichard. 
When the Saracen leader, Saladin, saw the English 
king fighting on foot, after his horse had fallen, 
he sent a magnificent charger to him as a present. 
Bichard prudently ordered one of his followers 
to ride the horse first. As soon as the fiery steed 
felt the stranger on his back, he took the bit be- 
tween his teeth, and galloped back to the Saracen 
camp, bearing his English rider into the midst 
of the enemy. Saladin was so ashamed of the 
way his present had acted, that he at once gave 
orders for a gentler animal to be brought, upon 


RICHARD CCEUR DE LION. 


85 


which the English knight rode back in safety to 
the Christian camp. 

Had it not been for the mean and petty jealousy 
of a rival in arms Kichard would, in all probabil- 
ity, have captured the city of Jerusalem. This 
rival was Hugh, Duke of Burgundy. He and 
Bichard were together when they received secret 
information that the garrison guarding Jerusa- 
lem had gone to assist the city of Damascus. 
Bichard and Hugh at once set out with their 
troops, for the holy city. When they were within 
a short distance of Jerusalem, Hugh and his 
followers turned back, because they did not wish 
the king of England to have the glory of taking 
the city. One of Bichard^s knights called to him, 

Sire, Sire, come hither and I will show you 
Jerusalem,^’ but Bichard covered his face with his 
mantle and fell on his knees exclaiming O God, 
if I am not worthy to rescue J erusalem, I am also 
unworthy to look upon it.’^ 

After this great disappointment. Bichard con- 
cluded with the enemy a truce, or an agreement 
not to fight, for a period of two years. When this 
truce was arranged, he and Saladin met and con- 
ceived a great liking and admiration for one 
another. Bichard was heard to declare that he 
would rather he the friend of the brave and honest 
pagan, than the ally of some of his Christian com- 
rades in arms. 


86 


RICHARD CCEUR DE LION. 


King Eichard sent his wife and sister honae, 
and embarked in another vessel for England. He 
encountered a severe storm in the Adriatic Sea, 
and was ship-wrecked and cast upon the shore of 
Austria. Leopold, the Austrian duke, was the 
English king’s deadly enemy, and it was neces- 
sary for Eichard to proceed with the greatest 
caution. Disguised as a templar, and accompan- 
ied by a single attendant, he hoped to escape de- 
tection. One day, his page, while buying provi- 
sions at a village shop, accidentally displayed a 
glove of Eichard’s. This glove was curiously em- 
broidered, and had been worn by the English king 
in Palestine. It was at once recognized by an 
Austrian crusader, who happened to be in the 
shop. The boy was forced to reveal his master’s 
whereabouts, and the news was at once carried 
to Leopold, who gave orders to search the inn 
where Eichard was concealed. _ At first, no one 
resembling the lion-hearted king, could be found, 
in fact, the inn seemed deserted by all its inmates, 
with the exception of a templar who sat before the 
kitchen fire and turned the spit on which were 
roasting the fowls for dinner. One of the search- 
ing-party, who had seen Eichard in Palestine rec- 
ognized him, in spite of his disguise, and cried, 
pointing to the supposed templar, There he is, 
hold him.” You may be sure that the brave king 
fought desperately for his liberty, but he was at 


RICHARD CCEUR DE LION. 


87 


length overpowered and imprisoned so closely, 
that, for a long time, it was suspected that he had 
died. He might, indeed, have ended his life in 
captivity, had it not been for the efforts of a 
humble friend, a minstrel named Blondel, between 
whom and Richard there had existed a warm af- 
fection. The lion-hearted king was a poet and a 
musician of no mean ability, and he had composed 
a song which was known to only Blondel and him- 
self. It was by means of this song that Richard^s 
rescue from prison was effected. Blondel wan- 
dered several months without finding the slightest 
trace of his friend, and was beginning to grow dis- 
couraged, when, late one evening, the tired min- 
strel arrived at a little village, guarded by a 
frowning castle on top of a cliff. He entered 
into conversation with the village miller, from 
whom he learned that the castle contained but a 
single prisoner, a tall, strong man with a reddish 
beard. Blondel was convinced that the prisoner 
was the one he sought, and making his way with 
all speed to the castle, he stationed himself be- 
neath one of the windows, and began to sing the 
first verse of King Richard^s song. To his great 
delight, he was answered by the singing of the 
second verse, and then he knew that his search had 
been successful. He hastened to England with the 
joyful tidings that King Richard was alive and 
had been found. Queen Eleanor at once took 


88 


RICHARD CGEUR DE LION. 


measures to bring about her son^s release from 
prison. She solicited aid from the pope, and at 
length, after the payment of an enormous ran- 
som, King Richard was set free. On his return 
to England, he found affairs in great confusion. 
During his prolonged absence, his younger 
brother John had tried to possess himself of the 
throne. Richard generously forgave the would-be 
usurper's perfidy, saying I forgive you, John, 
and I wish I could as easily forget your offence, 
as you will forget my pardon. 

Then followed an epoch in Richard’s life, which 
was anything but creditable to him. He asso- 
ciated with all kinds of disreputable characters, 
was guilty of intemperance and other vices and 
gave much scandal to his subjects. One day, 
Richard was hunting with his wild companions 
when he became separated from them in the forest. 
As he pursued his solitary way, he met a hermit 
who recognized him and preached a little sermon, 
begging the king to give up his wicked mode of 
life, and prophesying that a sudden and untimely 
death would be his fate, if he did not repent 
speedily. Richard paid but little heed to this 
admonition until he was seized with an alarm- 
ing illness. This occurred soon after his adven- 
ture in the forest, and, greatly disturbed, he re- 
called the hermit’s warning. Wishing to repair, as 
far as was possible, the scandal he had caused, the 


RICHARD CGEUR DE LION. 


89 


king sent for all the priests in the neighborhood of 
the castle where he lay upon his sick-bed. When 
they were assembled in his apartment, he made a 
public confession of all his faults and promised 
to amend his life. Richard^s repentance was 
sincere, for he persevered in his good resolutions 
after his recovery, and never relapsed into the 
vices which had disfigured his life before his ill- 
ness. 

As Richard, besides being king of England, 
was also duke of Aquitaine in France, he and the 
French king became involved in disputes result- 
ing in numerous petty wars. It was while storm- 
ing the castle of a French baron, that the lion- 
hearted king received his death-wound. An ar- 
row lodged in his shoulder. The wound appeared 
slight at first, but blood-poisoning developed, caus- 
ing his death in the forty-second year of his age, 
and the tenth of his reign. 

The remarkable generosity of Richard’s char- 
acter is shown in his conduct towards the archer 
who shot the fatal arrow. Although suffering 
great pain, when the deadly nature of his wound 
revealed itself, he sent for the archer, assured him 
of forgiveness, and ordered that the man should 
not be imprisoned, nor punished in any way. He 
then began to prepare for death. His brother 
John was made the heir to the English throne, as 
Richard and Rerengaria were childless. John 


90 


RICHARD CCEUR DE LION. 


was a weak, cruel man, and disfigured his short 
reign with many wicked deeds. The career of 
Richard was more interesting and romantic than 
that of any other English king. His wonderful 
strength and bravery won for him the title of 
Lion-heart, and were celebrated in song and story 
many years after his death. To his valor were 
united great generosity and nobility of character 
— qualities which went far towards atoning for 
his faults. From the fact that he freely and fully 
forgave his enemies, we may conclude that he was 
incapable of harboring malice or revenge. 

The lion-hearted king was admired and re- 
spected by the very Saracens against whom he 
fought in the Holy Land, and many years after 
his death, it was still the custom for the Saracen 
mother to quiet her fretful baby with Hush 
thee, or I will call King Richard ; ” and the 
AraVs startled horse would feel his master’s hand 
soothing him, while he heard his master’s voice 
in the words, Peace, didst thou think it was 
King Richard ? 


EDWAED THE CONEESSOK. 


This good king belonged to that far-off time 
before the Horman-Erench invaded England; in 
fact, he was the last of the Saxon kings, and one 
of the best rulers that England ever had. 

England had been for many years before the 
birth of Edward, in a very unsettled and miser- 
able state. The fierce sea-kings from Horway and 
Denmark made repeated incursions into Eng- 
land, striking terror into the inhabitants, whom 
they treated with great arrogance and cruelty. 

There were several Danish kings of England, 
and, during their reign, their followers compelled 
the native Saxons to give them the best board and 
lodging that their houses afforded, to wait upon 
them at table, and to address them as Lord 
Danes.^’ This state of affairs became intolerable 
to the Saxons, and they were constantly at war 
with the invaders. The only Danish king whom 
the Saxons could tolerate, was Canute, a good, 
sensible man, whose reign brought more peace 
than the disturbed country had known for a long 
91 


92 


EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. 


time. There is ^ rather interesting little anecdote 
told about him. One day his courtiers began to 
flatter him, telling him what a great king he was, 
and intimating that his power was so vast, that it 
would extend even to the ocean, whose waves he 
could subdue at will. Canute was disgusted with 
this foolish flattery, and determined to teach the 
courtiers a useful lesson. Accordingly he directed 
that his chair be placed upon the sea-shore, when 
the tide was rising. He seated himself with all 
his flatterers about him, and, raising his scepter, 
commanded the sea to approach no nearer. Very 
soon he and his attendants were forced to abandon 
their position, as the rising tide splashed over 
them. Canute then rebuked the courtiers, telling 
them never again to attribute to a creature a power 
which belongs only to God. 

While Canute reigned in England, the Saxon 
king had taken refuge in Hormandy, a part of 
France, which received its name from the Herman 
sea-kings, who conquered it. This prince’s name 
was Ethelred, and he was surnamed the Unready, 
from the indecision and slowness of his disposi- 
tion. He married the Herman princess Emma, 
and their son, Edward, afterwards became the 
great and good monarch, whom the Church honors 
with the title of Confessor. 

After the death of Ethelred, his widow married 
Canute, and they had one son, Hardicanute, who 


EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. 93 

was the last king of Danish extraction to rule in 
England. 

Emma, who had remarried in England after 
Canute’s death, lived in great splendor at Win- 
chester. Her sons by her first marriage, Edward 
and Alfred, were still in Hormandy, and affairs 
in England were managed almost entirely by a 
powerful Saxon nobleman, Earl Godwin. Can- 
ute’s son, Harold, had succeeded his father on 
the throne, but he was a weak-minded prince, 
whom his subjects regarded with fear and dislike. 
Harold was guilty of a dreadful act of cruelty 
toward his step-brother Alfred, an act in which 
he is supposed to have been aided by Earl 
Godwin. These two conspirators professed great 
friendship for the young prince, and sent a mes- 
sage to Hormandy, inviting him and his brother 
Edward to visit England. Alfred, being the elder 
of the two brothers, was the rightful heir to cer- 
tain portions of England, over which Harold de- 
sired to reign, and he formed the wicked design 
of ridding himself of his rival, with the aid of 
Godwin. ^Tien the young princes reached Eng- 
land, they were set upon by a large number of God- 
win’s vassals, who captured Alfred and immured 
him in a prison at Ely, after torturing him in a 
most horrible manner. He died soon after, and 
his brother Edward, who had not been captured, 
fled with their mother to Normandy. 


94 


EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. 


Harold then took possession of Alfred’s domin- 
ions, but his triumph was not of long duration. 
He died in a very short time, little regretted by 
any of his subjects, and was succeeded by his half- 
brother, Hardicanute, the son of Canute and 
Emma. Hardicanute was little better than his 
predecessor, although his first act was an attempt 
at punishing the murderers of Alfred, He ac- 
cused Godwin of the crime, but the crafty noble- 
man denied all complicity in it, and, to appease 
the king, made him a present of a galley, or ship, 
with a gilt stern, rowed by eighty men, each of 
them wearing a gold bracelet on his arm, and 
clothed in the most sumptuous manner. 

Hardicanute, on receiving this fine present, for- 
got his brother’s murder, and acquitted Godwin, 
who stoutly protested his innocence of any part in 
poor Alfred’s cruel death. 

In the meantime Edward remained in Nor- 
mandy, where he had taken refuge after his un- 
lucky visit to England, living a good, pious life, 
and little dreaming that he would ever occupy a 
throne. He was much astounded, therefore, by 
the arrival of a messenger, who had traveled with 
all speed to Normandy, bearing tidings of the sud- 
den death of Hardicanute, and an invitation from 
Earl Godwin to come to England and assume the 
reins of government 

Godwin was powerful enough to have made 


EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. 


95 


himself king, had he wished, and the fact that he 
did not do so, shows that he had, at least, some 
idea of justice. Edward and Godwin had not 
been friends since the violent death of Edward’s 
brother, but they agreed to bury their animosities, 
and in token of their reconciliation a marriage 
was arranged between Edward and Godwin’s 
beautiful and virtuous daughter, Edith. 

Edward was forty years old when he ascended 
the throne, twenty-seven of which had been spent 
in exile. In the hard school of adversity he had 
acquired those virtues which were the foundation 
of his greatness. England was in a pitiable condi- 
tion at the time of Edward’s accession to the 
throne. The native Saxons, who had been prac- 
tically the slaves of the Danes, were almost sav- 
ages, ignorant, clumsy and rude. The monas- 
teries, which were the only seats of learning in 
the Middle Ages, had been destroyed during the 
invasion of the pagan Danes, and their precious 
manuscripts burned. The laws of the realm were 
few and imperfect, and were more frequently 
disregarded than observed. Edward tried to in- 
stil a love for the law into his subjects by means 
of kindness rather than severity, for he made 
allowance for their failings, which he considered 
less the result of depravity, than of the unfortu- 
nate manner in which they had been governed. 
One morning at dawn, the king was awakened by 


96 


EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. 


a slight noise in his apartment. He looked about, 
and what was his astonishment to see a man in 
the act of taking some gold coins from a chest 
which stood in one corner of the room ! Instead of 
calling for help and delivering the thief to punish- 
ment, the good king only said, My friend, 
never do that again, for if my chancellor of the 
exchequer catches you, you will not escape as 
easily as you do now.” 

But King Edward, like all reformers, met with 
many vexations and troubles. The ISTormans, 
with whom he had spent so many years of his 
life, were much more refined and better educated 
than the Saxons, a fact which made it easier to 
find Kormans fitted to occupy certain positions 
than Saxons. Consequently many Herman 
friends of the king were placed in positions of 
trust, and some of his Saxon subjects complained 
that they were unfairly treated by Edward. Ill- 
feeling was thus engendered between the Hermans 
and the Saxons. At length the smoldering fire 
burst into flame. 

A Herman friend of King Edward, Eustace, 
Count of Boulogne, had paid a visit to England, 
and stopped at Dover, on his return to France. 
One of his attendants was refused admittance to 
an inn, and attempting to force his way into the 
house, wounded the inn-keeper. The inhabitants 
then attacked the Herman and killed him. 


EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. 


97 


Count Eustace and his men took arms, and in the 
tumult, twenty people were slain, Eustace being 
forced to save his life by flight. He hurried to 
court and complained of the treatment he had 
received. The king was much displeased and 
mortified that a stranger of rank, who had been 
his guest, should have been subjected to violence 
in his dominions, and he gave orders to Earl 
Godwin, in whose district Dover lay, to go there 
at once and punish the offenders. But Godwin, 
who rather wished to encourage enmity between 
the Saxons and the Normans, refused to obey the 
king’s order, and threw the whole blame for the 
unfortunate affair on Eustace and his train. God- 
win was, in reality, pleased to have a pretext for 
a quarrel, as he wished to banish the Normans 
from England. He accordingly assembled a large 
force and marched against Gloucester, where the 
king resided. 

Edward was totally unsuspicious of Godwin’s 
base designs, and he was much surprised when the 
news reached him of what was transpiring. He 
lost no time in mustering a force to oppose God- 
win, and so beloved was the king that his subjects 
flocked from all quarters to join his standard. 
Soon he started at the head of a great army to 
London. Here he summoned a council to judge 
Godwin and his sons, but they rather than stand 
trial, fled, taking refuge in Elanders. 

7 


98 


EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. 


The Earl of Flanders was the father-in-law of 
one of Godwin^s sons, and he aided them in fitting 
out ships to return to England and renew the 
fight which they had been forced to abandon. 

England had enjoyed peace during the absence 
of this turbulent Earl, and the inhabitants of 
London were astounded and dismayed to see a 
fleet commanded by Godwin, appear in the 
Thames, and anchor before the city. Edward, 
who dreaded the effects of war upon his subjects, 
made some kind of compromise with Godwin, thus 
averting hostilities. 

I^ot long after the return of Godwin from 
Flanders, he was invited to dine with the king. 
The company were much amused by a cup-bearer 
who tripped one of his feet, but saved himself 
from falling by suddenly bringing up the other 
in a comical manner that made the guests laugh. 
Godwin said, referring to the man’s feet, that one 
brother had saved the other. “ Yes,” answered 
the king, brothers have need of brothers’ aid, 
would to God that mine were still alive.” He 
looked meaningly at Godwin, as he said this, 
appearing to insinuate that the Earl had had 
some part in the death of Edward’s brother, 
Alfred. 

Godwin at once reproached the king for his 
suspicions, and made vehement denial of any par- 
ticipation in the crime. He swore to his inno- 


EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. 


99 


cence with a solemn oath, and said that he wished 
the next mouthful of bread he ate might choke 
him, if what he said were not true. Immediately 
after making this protest he put a piece of bread 
into his mouth, and in the act of swallowing it 
was seized with a fit of coughing and suffocation. 
The attendants hastened to his assistance, and 
carried him from the presence of the terrified 
guests. He was seized with convulsions and died 
in five days. 

The singular and tragic death of Godwin 
brought peace to England, and Edward exerted 
every effort to bring education and order, where 
ignorance and lawlessness had so long held 
sway. Schools and churches rose under his hand. 
The University of Oxford, which had been 
founded by Edward^s great-great-grandfather, 
King Alfred, had almost fallen into ruin. He 
restored and enlarged it and invited eminent 
teachers from the continent to take up their resi- 
dence there, for the Saxons could boast of but 
few native teachers. 

Edward mingled freely with his subjects, who 
had access to his presence at all times. He used 
frequently to retire to his country house at Brill, 
situated in the midst of a dense forest. Upon one 
of his visits Edward learned that the forest was 
infested by a particularly ferocious wild boar. He 
offered a reward for the capture of the animal^ 


100 EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. 

and a certain huntsman of the neighborhood, 
named Nigel, determined to try for the prize. He 
dug a deep pit, in the bottom of which he placed 
a pig for bait, covering the top of the pit with 
branches and a little soil. After waiting patiently 
several nights, without success, Nigel saw the boar 
stealthily approaching in search of the pig, which 
he had scented from afar. Stepping upon the 
branches the boar fell into the pit, and was quickly 
killed by Nigel, who presented the head to the 
king. He was rewarded with a grant of land in 
the forest, which was called Boarstall. He built 
a house upon his domains, and his descendants 
have continued to reside at Boarstall through all 
the centuries that have elapsed since the reign of 
Edward. 

Queen Edith was almost as much beloved by the 
English people as was her husband. Having no 
children of her own, she manifested a motherly 
interest in the children of her subjects. A writer 
who lived in those days, and has recorded some 
of the events of his life, describes how, on his way 
to school, he often met the queen, who never failed 
to stop him, engage him in conversation, and ask 
him questions about his grammar, logic and verses. 
She would then praise him for the progress he 
had made, and direct her attendant to give him a 
present of some money. This simple little inci- 
dent shows the kindness of Edith’s heart, and ex- 


EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. IQl 

plains the affection with which all her subjects 
regarded her. 

While Edward was doing all in his power to 
preserve peace in his dominions, the inhabitants 
of that part of England bordering on Wales, be- 
gan to be much harassed by the Welsh, a semi- 
barbarous people, who would descend during the 
night from their mountain fastnesses, and commit 
all sorts of depredations upon the property of 
their English neighbors. 

Griffith, the reigning prince of Wales, had dis- 
tinguished himself in these incursions and had 
made his name a terror to the English. Harold, 
the son of Godwin, determined to lead an expedi- 
tion of picked men lightly armed, into the Welsh 
mountains, to pursue and punish the natives. He 
was completely successful, reducing the Welsh to 
such distress that they sacrificed their own prince, 
whose head they cut off, and sent, in token of sub- 
mission, to Harold. King Edward then appointed 
two Welsh princes to rule over the semi-barbarous 
people of Wales, who then ceased their marauding 
expeditions into England. 

After the defeat of the Welsh, England enjoyed 
a period of peace, which King Edward employed 
in compiling a very complete set of laws, a work 
upon which he expended much labor and thought. 
As the good king had always the welfare of relig- 
ion at heart, he caused numbers of churches to 


102 


EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. 


be built, among them Westminster Abbey, which 
he had the satisfaction of seeing completed before 
his death. 

When Edward was in his sixty-fourth year, he 
felt that his health was failing, and being childless, 
began to consider whom he would name to suc- 
ceed him on the throne of England. He sent a 
deputation to Hungary to invite his nephew Ed- 
ward, the son of his eldest brother, to come to 
England. This prince’s right to the throne could 
not have been disputed, for he was the only re- 
maining heir of the Saxon line. Unfortunately 
he died a few days after his arrival in England. 
The unexpected death of the heir whom he had 
selected threw the king into fresh difficulties. Af- 
ter due consideration he decided to name, as his 
heir, William of Normandy, a relative through 
his mother, who, you remember, was a Norman 
princess. Harold, the son of Godwin, wished 
very much to be the king’s heir, and, it is said 
that in his eagerness he forced himself into the 
apartments of Edward, who was ill in bed, and 
asked him on whom the crown should be bestowed. 
Edward answered that he had appointed, as his 
successor, William of Normandy. Harold inti- 
mated that he would seize the throne by force, say- 
ing that he feared not the Norman, nor any other 
foe. The king then warned him that if he fought 


EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. 


103 


the ITorman it would be his ruin, a prophecy 
which was speedily to be fulfilled. 

A few days after his interview with Harold, 
the good king breathed his last, sincerely mourned 
by all of his subjects, to whom his reign had 
brought peace and prosperity. He was honored 
as a saint by the English people, even before his 
canonization, which took place about a century 
after his death. Until the thirteenth century, he 
was regarded as the patron saint of England, and 
numerous churches in that country bear his name. 
‘ St. Edward was the first king to touch for the 

king’s evil,” as it was called, a disease which he 
healed miraculously. His successors followed his 
example, but, not being saints, their touch had not 
the healing efficacy of Edward’s. 

In Westminster Abbey, the greatest monument 
to the piety and zeal of the Confessor, there is a 
chapel which bears his name. The curious old 
shrine in the center of this chapel, is surmounted 
by a massive oaken coffin containing the mortal 
remains of the good St. Edward, the last of the 
Saxon kings. 


ST. LOUIS. 

This child of benediction was the ninth of his 
name, among the kings of France. He was the 
son of Louis VIII and Queen Blanche of Castile, 
a pious and saintly woman, who was untiring in 
her efforts to train him in the practice of every 
virtue. It was her custom to say to him, My 
son, I would rather see you dead at my feet, than 
guilty of a single mortal sin.” It was not strange 
that Louis, while still very young, displayed great 
piety and zeal for religion, combined with a hor- 
ror of sin, the natural result of his good mother’s 
early training. Queen Blanche was regent of 
France during the long minority of her son, and 
she directed the affairs of the government with 
so much wisdom and prudence, that Louis, after 
assuming the reins of government, often sought 
her advice and deferred to her judgment in the 
management of his kingdom. 

In the wars conducted by Louis’ ancestors, 
many innocent persons had lost their estates, 
which became, by right of victory, the property of 
104 


ST. LOUIS. 


105 


the crown. The young king’s first care, after at- 
taining his majority, was to seek out the former 
owners of these estates, or their descendants, and 
to restore to them all their property which had 
reverted to the crown. In the instructions left by 
him to his son, Philippe, he says, If thou art 
given to understand that thou boldest anything 
wrongfully, either in thy own time, or, in that of 
thy ancestors, quickly restore it, no matter how 
great the thing may be, either in land, or money, 
or otherwise. 

Louis had not long been crowned, when Chris- 
tendom, and, indeed, not only Christendom, but 
the entire civilized world was suddenly called 
upon to defend itself from total destruction. The 
Mongols, a barbarian tribe from the north of 
China had become so strong and so numerous, 
that they left the sterile plains, which had been 
their home, spread over the whole of Asia and 
marked their path with the ashes of ruined build- 
ings and the bones of murdered men. It was the 
ambition of these savages to reduce the whole 
known world to a plain, or free prairie, where 
they could roam at will on their small shaggy 
ponies. So much were these Mongols feared and 
dreaded, that the people of Europe said they 
would one day descend upon Kome, and feed their 
horses on the high-altar of St. Peter’s. The Em- 
peror of Constantinople sent to ask Louis’ aid 


106 


ST. LOUIS. 


against the invaders, and promised to give him a 
precious relic — the crown of thorns worn by Our 
Blessed Lord during his passion. Louis was over- 
joyed, and directed that a chapel, the Sainte 
Chapelle should be built at Vincennes for its re- 
ception. When the precious relic arrived, Louis 
walked after it, barefoot from Paris to Vincennes, 
where it was installed in the Sainte Chapelle, with 
many pious ceremonies. Louis wished to show 
his gratitude to the Emperor of Constantinople, by 
starting at once to his assistance, but was de- 
tained at home by a war with England. This 
war finally ended in a truce brought about through 
the efforts of Richard Coeur de Lion, whom Louis 
revered for the part he had taken in the last cru- 
sade. Our saint detested war, and always tried 
to avoid it, if at all possible. It was his custom 
to arbitrate quarrels between his nobles, in order 
to prevent the duels which were commonly re- 
garded, at that time, as the only way of settling 
a dispute. 

The kingdom being at peace, Louis prepared to 
put into execution his darling project, the rescue 
of Jerusalem, but, once more, the saint had need 
of exercising the virtue of patience. He fell ill, 
and was almost at the point of death, when the 
news reached France, that the Mongols had swept 
down upon the city of Bagdad, which they had 
left almost entirely In ruins. Then, pushing on 


ST. LOUIS. 


107 


towards the Holy Land, they gained a victory at 
Gaza, where a large number of Christians were 
slain. The Mongols next entered Jerusalem, 
which had been deserted by its inhabitants, and 
lured them back by a cunningly-contrived plan. 
They displayed crosses on the walls, and when 
the inhabitants returned, massacred them without 
mercy. 

The tidings of all these disasters reached Paris, 
when the king was thought to be at the point of 
death. In fact, one of the watchers by Louis^ bed- 
side, had already covered his face, thinking that he 
had breathed his last. He rallied, however, and, 
as soon as he could speak, directed that the red 
cross of the crusader be placed upon his bed, and 
upon his tunic. His mother begged him to re- 
nounce his intention of going to the Holy Land. 
She represented to him, that, in his feeble condi- 
tion, the trying climate of Syria would probably 
prove fatal. But Louis was firm in his resolve. 
WTien told that Queen Blanche had said her son 
might not have been in full possession of his 
senses, when, during his illness, he took the vow of 
the crusader, he sent for her and for the bishop of 
Paris, and said to them, Since you believe I 
was not perfectly myself when I took my vows, I 
now pluck my cross off my shoulders and give it 
into your hands. But now, since you see that I 
am in full possession of all my faculties, then give 


108 


ST. LOUIS. 


me back my cross, for He who knows all things, 
also knows that no food shall enter my mouth un- 
til I have been marked with this sign.” 

It is the finger of God,” said his mother, 
Let us no longer oppose his will.” 

As soon as St. Louis had recovered his strength, 
he set sail for Cyprus, where he spent several 
months, stocking his ships with provisions, and 
training himself and his soldiers to resist the ill- 
effects of the severe Eastern climate. While Louis 
was in Cyprus, he received envoys from several 
Asiatic princes, who wished to make the acquaint- 
ance of the great French king. One Mussulman 
ruler, called the Old Man of the Mountain, af- 
forded great amusement to the Frenchmen. He 
sent to beg of Louis, exemption from a certain 
tribute which he had hitherto been forced to pay 
to the templars. Behind the ambassador present- 
ing the petition, stood two envoys, one bearing 
three swords, cunningly fitted together. These 
swords would have been presented, in token of 
defiance, with the points towards the French king, 
had he refused the request. The other envoy 
held on his arm a white cotton cloth which would 
have been handed to the king as his winding-sheet 
had he not granted the petition of the Old Man of 
the Mountain. 

Louis sailed from Cyprus for Egypt, and, be- 
ing undecided where to land, was driven by a 


ST. LOUIS. 


109 


storm towards Bamietta. He was so eager to dis- 
embark, that he leaped into the water, sword in 
hand, before his boat touched shore. The troops 
of Saracens drawn up to oppose the landing of 
the French, fled, after a slight skirmish, and Louis 
found himself in possession of the city of Dam- 
ietta. He then pushed on, with his army towards 
Cairo, but ignorance of the roads caused the 
Frenchmen to take a round-about route, and fifty 
days were consumed in making a journey which 
should have occupied only ten. During this ter- 
rible march, the French suffered severely, in their 
heavy armor, from the Greek fire rained on them 
by the enemy. When Louis saw the sufferings of 
his troops, he knelt down, and raising his hands 
toward heaven prayed fervently, saying “ O gra- 
cious God, preserve my people to me.” 

At length, the minarets and domes of Cairo 
were seen in the distance, by the weary French- 
men, and soon the vanguard of the army reached 
the city gates. The king’s brother, Kobert, was so 
impatient to enter, that he refused to wait for the 
main body of the army and, setting spurs to his 
horse, dashed in at the open gate. The templars 
who were with him, followed, and immediately 
upon entering the city, were slain by the Saracens. 
The king fought valiantly when he learned of 
this disaster. One of his knights writes of him, 

Where I was on foot with my men, the king 


110 


ST. LOUIS. 


came with all his army, and with great noise and 
sound of trumpets, halted on a raised place. 
N’ever was so goodly a man-at-arms seen, for he 
topped all his people from the shoulders upward, 
and had a golden helmet on his head, and a Ger- 
man sword in his hand.” 

In the evening, some one came to inquire about 
the king’s brother. All that I know,” said he, 

is that my brother is now in Paradise.” 

The battle raged until after nightfall, Louis 
performing prodigies of valor. When the Count 
of Anjou was surrounded and attacked by two 
bodies of Saracens, one on horseback, the other 
on foot, the king saved him by dashing through 
the ranks of the enemy, his horse’s mane afire. 
The Saracens finally retreated and Louis said 
aloud, before the whole army, a prayer of thanks- 
giving to Almighty God for the victory. It was 
considered almost miraculous to have defeated 
with infantry, most of whom were wounded, a 
powerful body of cavalry. 

Louis had not escaped unhurt, from the conflict, 
and wished to retire with the army to Damietta. 
So many were disabled, however, that this plan 
had to be abandoned for a time. Soon sickness 
added to the sufferings of the French, who, breath- 
ing the unwholesome mists and drinking the pol- 
luted water of the Nile, were soon attacked with 
strange and terrible diseases. The deaths grew 


ST. LOUIS. 


Ill 


daily more numerous. One day, a knight of the 
king’s household named Joinville, who was ill, 
was hearing Mass in bed, when he noticed that 
the priest was on the point of fainting. Eising 
from his couch, he supported him until the holy 
sacrifice was ended, when the priest breathed his 
last. 

The people, panic-stricken, and fearing the con- 
tagion, had a dread and horror of touching the 
dead, or of burying them. King Louis had re- 
covered from his wound, and he set the example 
of Christian charity, to the army, by digging the 
graves and burying with his own hands those 
who had fallen victims to the pestilence. But 
the work was too great for his strength, Louis 
fell ill, and it was then determined to move the 
army to Damietta. Some of the troops were em- 
barked on boats on the Kile, others went by land. 
Louis was so weak that he had to be carried on a 
litter. The march was soon stopped by the Sara- 
cens, and a fearful massacre of the Christians took 
place. Louis was taken prisoner, and the French, 
anxious to ransom their beloved king, desired to 
make terms with the enemy. The sultan finally 
consented to deliver the royal prisoner to the 
French, taking in return the city of Damietta 
and a large sum of money, but before the terms 
of the agreement could be carried out, the Sara- 
cen ruler was killed by his own subjects, who then 


112 


ST. LOUIS. 


attacked the French prisoners. The king escaped 
and finally returned to France with the remnant 
of his army which had escaped the pestilence and 
the Saracen prison. His wife, Margaret, who 
had bravely accompanied him to Egypt, also re- 
turned home taking with her the little prince 
John, who was born in the Holy Land while his 
father was the prisoner of the sultan. 

Queen Blanche had died during the absence 
of Louis, who was thus deprived of the melancholy, 
satisfaction of soothing her last hours on earth, 
by his presence. 

Soon after the return home of the French from 
Egypt, reports began to reach Europe that the 
Mongols were committing terrible ravages in 
Syria. These savages had been joined by the 
Mamelukes, a band of Turkish outlaws; and one 
Christian stronghold after another fell into their 
hands. Thousands of Christians were slaughtered 
for refusing to deny the Faith. In Antioch alone, 
seventeen thousand of these martyrs were put to 
the sword, and one hundred thousand sold into 
slavery. 

The terrible tidings of these events set on fire 
the ardent and pious spirit of Louis. At night, 
while at prayer in the Sainte Chapelle, his imag- 
ination pictured the sufferings of the helpless 
Christians in Syria, and he fancied he could hear 
their cries for deliverance. On May 25, 1267, he 


ST. LOUIS. 


113 


assembled his barons in the great hall of the 
Louvre. Louis entered, bearing in his hands the 
holy crown of thorns from the Sainte Chapelle. 
Then, in the presence of all the court, he solemnly 
took the cross of the crusader, his example being 
followed by his two brothers, his sons and many 
barons. A second time, the brave king prepared 
for the dangerous expedition to the Holy Land. 
It was decided to land the army at Tunis, be- 
cause the ruler of that country was friendly to the 
French. A Jew from Tunis had been converted 
and baptized in Paris. Louis invited the Tunisian 
ambassadors to the ceremony, and said to them; 

Tell your master, that so strong is my longing 
for his conversion, that I would be willing to en- 
ter a Saracen prison for the rest of my life, and 
never again see the light of day, if, by so doing, I 
could make your king and his people Christians.” 
This kind message was so pleasing to the ruler of 
Tunis, that he resolved to serve the French king 
whenever it should be in his power to do so. His 
friendship proved most valuable, for the French 
landed in Tunis without opposition, and started 
on the trying march across the desert. The fierce 
summer sun of that tropical climate beat down 
pitilessly on the soldiers in their heavy armor. 
Ho shade, no trees nor grass, nothing but the burn- 
ing yellow sands of the desert into which their 
struggling horses plunged deep at every step. 

8 


lU 


ST. LOUIS. 


The only water obtainable was taken from stag- 
nant pools, or cisterns full of insects. In a few 
days, the plague broke out. The king and his 
sons fell ill, the youngest died. As this prince 
was Louis’ favorite child, his confessor dared not 
acquaint the bereaved father with the sad news 
for one entire week, and by that time, Louis was 
himself preparing to go to his eternal reward. 
The saintly king, in the midst of his pains, dic- 
tated a beautiful instruction to his son and suc- 
cessor, and even received an ambassador of the 
Greek king, who sent to beg a favor of the king 
of France. 

On the ninth day of his illness, in the evening, 
Louis felt that his end was near, and ordered his 
attendants to lift him from his bed and place him 
upon a cross of ashes on the floor. He was heard 
to pray for his people, begging Almighty God to 
grant them a safe return to France. Several 
times he murmured O Jerusalem, O Jerusa- 
lem! ” On August 26, 1270, Louis breathed his 
last, an exile from his native land for the love 
of God. 

St. Louis was canonized twenty-seven years 
after his death, and his feast is celebrated by the 
church on the twenty-fifth of August 

The character of this holy king is one of the 
most attractive and lovable among the saints of 
the Church. We delight to think of him, walk- 


ST. LOUIS. 


115 


ing in the early morning after mass, in the forest 
of Vincennes, reading the office of the church — 
a devotion which was often interrupted, perhaps 
’ to arbitrate between two quarreling barons, or to 
settle the claim of a poor peasant, for all his sub- 
jects were allowed to appear before the good king, 
whenever it suited them. He punished infringe- 
ment of the law, when necessary, hut always pre- 
ferred to deal leniently with offenders. He gave 
orders to his soldiers in Syria, that all Saracen 
captives should be kindly treated, and that the 
children should be brought to the priest for bap- 
tism. Even among those infidels he was called the 
^ Saint King.” Louis was a member of the third 
order of St. Francis, to whom he had a great 
devotion, and whose ardent love of God he imi- 
tated. In a letter to his daughter, he wrote, My 
dear daughter, the measure in which we should 
love God, is to love him beyond measure.” 

If you ever travel in France, you will see, at 
Vincennes, the Sainte Chapelle, which the good 
king built, and where he was wont to retire for 
his devotions. The dim little chapel in the forest 
is filled with memories of the great King Louis, 
and, as we think of him, there comes to our mind 
a verse of his favorite psalm which fittingly de- 
scribes this holy saint of God, Happy are they 
who observe justice and who execute it at all 
times. 


JEANNE D^AKC. 


Jeanne d’Arc was a simple French peasant 
girl, the daughter of a poor shepherd in the prov- 
ince of Champagne. Ignorant and rustic, but 
pious and industrious, her parents, Jacques d^Arc 
and his wife Isabelle, differed in no wise from 
their neighbors in the little village of Domremi. 
Jeanne was the youngest of a large family, and 
while her brothers and sisters worked in the fields 
with their father, she stayed at home and helped 
her mother with the spinning, and other work of 
the household. 

When the little Jeanne grew older, she was 
sent to tend her father’s sheep in the forest near 
her native village, and there, amid the peaceful 
solitude of the green hills, were fostered those 
great traits in Jeanne’s character, which rendered 
her one of the most remarkable women that ever 
lived. The unhappy state of France began to oc- 
cupy her thoughts, almost to the exclusion of any- 
thing else. For many years, the kings of France 
and England, with the exception of brief inter- 
116 


JEANNE D’ARC. 


117 


vals of peace, had been at enmity with one another. 
Since that far away time when William of JSTor- 
mandy had made himself master of England, the 
English kings, his descendants, considered them- 
selves rightful sovereigns of various provinces of 
Erance, and it was very easy for them to try to 
extend their dominions by conquering the adjoin- 
ing territory. Thus there were constant wars be- 
tween the French and their English neighbors. 
These wars had resulted in victory sometimes for 
the English, and again for the French. But in 
poor Jeanne^s time, things looked about as dark 
for the French as they possibly could. Indeed 
it appeared as if all France would become a part 
of England, and be entirely under the dominion 
of the English king. The king of England, at 
that time, was Henry VI. who had not yet at- 
tained his majority. Owing to the king^s youth, 
the wars in France were conducted by the Duke 
of Bedford. The French king Charles VII, in 
the unsettled state of the country had not been 
crowned and was still called the dauphin, a title 
bestowed upon the heir-apparent to the French 
throne. His was a weak and timid character, hut 
ill suited to cope with the difficulties and dan- 
gers which menaced France. One city after an- 
other had been captured by the English, and, at 
length, the city of Orleans, the key to southern 
France, was in the power of the victorious enemy. 


118 


JEANNE D’ARC. 


In this moment of national disaster, who came to 
the rescue of France? A great soldier, you will 
say, or perhaps a powerful king with his army. 
iN’o, none of these. The deliverer of France was 
to he none other than the poor peasant maiden, 
who could neither read nor write, and who had 
never in her life been more than a few miles from 
her native village. By thus making use of the 
most humble instruments, does Almighty God 
sometimes confound the judgments of men. 

Jeanne, alone in the forest with her sheep, 
used often to stop at a small chapel, before whose 
altar she was wont to pray. "While kneeling there, 
one day, she thought she heard a voice bidding 
her go to the rescue of the dauphin. When she 
answered, But I am only a poor girl, how can I 
accomplish this ? ’’ the voice replied, Go to M. 
de Baudricourt, Captain of Vaucouleurs, and he 
will conduct thee to the king. St. Catherine and 
St. Margaret will be thy aids.” 

When Jeanne related this incident to her par- 
ents, and begged their permission to go to Vau- 
couleurs, they were horrified, and her father de- 
clared that he would rather see her in her grave, 
than engaged in such an undertaking. Jeanne 
waited patiently five long years, for the fulfill- 
ment of her desire. Her parents thought that if 
she were married, Jeanne would abandon her 
project, and, accordingly, a young peasant of the 


JEANNE D’ARC. 


119 


village, at their instigation pretended that she 
had promised to marry him, and Jeanne was 
cited to appear in court, to stand trial for break- 
ing her promise. The family, knowing her ex- 
treme timidity, never doubted that, rather than 
speak in public, as would be necessary at her 
trial, she would submit to be married. Great was 
their astonishment, therefore, when she appeared 
in court, and defended herself so well that the 
young peasant’s suit had to be abandoned. 

Jeanne found an unexpected ally in her uncle, 
a poor wheelwright of Vaucouleiirs. He pre- 
tended to take her to his house so that she could 
nurse her aunt, who was ill. Jeanne’s parents 
gave their consent to the proposed visit, and when 
she arrived in Vaucouleurs, was conducted by her 
uncle to the captain, M. de Baudricourt, who, at 
first paid but little attention to her. But Jeanne 
was not to be deterred, she spoke with so much 
earnestness, declaring that God would send aid 
to the dauphin in mid-Lent, and that Charles 
would be crowned at Bheims, that Baudricourt 
finally sent a message to the dauphin, recounting 
Jeanne’s prophecy, and asking that she be granted 
an audience. After a weary delay, the answer 
came, Jeanne was to repair to court. Probably no 
heed would have been paid to her, if the dauphin 
had not suffered another discouraging defeat. 
He determined to try any and every means to 


120 


JEANNE D’ARC. 


repair his fallen fortunes, and, as the drowning 
man grasps at a straw, so did the young French 
prince resolve to accept the proffered aid of a 
young peasant maiden. 

Jeanne lost no time in starting on her journey 
to Chinon, where the dauphin was. Her poor 
parents were almost distracted when they heard 
of her departure, and Jeanne, doubtless, was 
much grieved to cause them such distress. She 
had a letter written to them (she could not write, 
herself) in which she insisted that she was com- 
pelled to fulfill her mission, and begging their 
forgiveness. 

The way to Chinon lay over swollen rivers, and 
through trackless forests, infested by robbers, and 
by French and English men-at-arms. But Jeanne, 
steadfast in her purpose, knew no fear. She was 
accompanied only by five or six soldiers, and was 
dressed like them, in a suit of armor. Her es- 
cort feared her, thinking that she was a witch, 
but this did not disturb Jeanne in the least. At 
every town, they had to wait for her, while she 
heard Mass. Fear not,’^ she said, God guides 
me my way, it is for this I was born.” 

Jeanne’s coming was regarded with great dis- 
favor by a certain faction at court, and, not far 
from Chinon, an ambuscade was laid for her, from 
which her escape was almost miraculous. When 
she arrived at Chinon, her enemies succeeded in 


JEANNE D’ARC. 


121 


delaying her interview with the dauphin for two 
days, while they used every argument against her. 
At length, the longed-for audience with the 
dauphin took place. In order to disconcert the 
simple village girl, Charles surrounded himself 
with unusual magnificence and pomp. It was 
evening, and countless lights shone on the rich 
dresses of the hundreds of nobles and knights who 
surrounded the dauphin. To test her, Charles 
mingled with the throng of knights, while one of 
the nobles took the dauphin’s place on the throne. 
Nothing daunted, Jeanne advanced modestly, but 
with perfect self-possession. Taking her way 
through the brilliant throng, she paused before the 
dauphin, and falling on her knees said, Gentle 
Dauphin, I am Jeanne la pucelle (the maid). 
The King of Heaven sends you word, by me, that 
you shall be consecrated and crowned in the city 
of Kheims.” 

The dauphin was greatly impressed by this 
prophecy, for a certain incident, well known at 
court, had caused Jeanne to be regarded as some- 
thing more than an ordinary village girl. A 
short time before her arrival at Chinon, a certain 
French soldier committed a grievous sin of 
speech in her hearing. Alas ! ” said J eanne, 
‘‘ Thou deniest God, and art so near thy death.” 
A moment later, the soldier fell into the river, and 
was drowned. 


122 


JEANNE D’ARC. 


Meanwhile, the distressed city of Orleans was 
clamoring for aid, and Jeanne^s impatience to go 
to the rescue knew no bounds. At length, all was 
ready and La Pucelle, as Jeanne was called, pro- 
vided with an establishment, like any officer in 
the French army, started on the march to Or- 
leans. She had a squire, two pages, two heralds 
and a confessor in her train, her brother Pierre 
d’Arc also accompanied her. Jeanne had begged 
that a messenger be sent to the church of St. 
Catherine, at Fierbois, to bring, from a certain 
place which she designated, under the altar, a 
sword with three crosses on the hilt. She had 
never been in the church and many scoffers de- 
clared that no such sword would be found — But, 
just as Jeanne had said, the sword was there, and 
she used it during the fight for the rescue of Or- 
leans. Jeanne wore a suit of white armor and 
was mounted on a black horse ; she carried, on one 
side, the sword of St. Catherine and on the other, 
a small battle-ax. In her hand, she carried a 
white banner embroidered with fleur-de-lis, the 
national flower of France. This banner had a rep- 
resentation of Our Lord, bearing the world in 
His hand, and having on His right and left two 
angels, each holding a fleur-de-lis. Jeanne said 
that she loved her banner better than her weapons. 
1 will never use mj sword to slay any one ” she 


JEANNE D’ARC. 


123 


When Jeanne arrived before the citj^ of Or- 
leans with a force of six thousand men, the Eng- 
lish were panic-stricken, thinking that they had 
to contend with the powers of darkness. The 
French, inspired by Jeanne, fought so well that 
their adversaries were compelled to raise the siege, 
and, on May 8, 1429, Orleans was once more in 
possession of the triumphant French. 

Although slightly wounded, Jeanne started at 
once to apprise the dauphin of her victory, and 
to urge him to proceed at once to Rheims, to be 
crowned. Charles received her with enthusiasm, 
but, at first, refused to take her advice. At 
length, he consented to go to Rheims, as soon as 
the course could be cleared of its English gar- 
risons. The army was placed in command of the 
Duke of Alengon, who was instructed to act ac- 
cording to Jeanne^s advice. Many battles had to 
.be fought, before the French could enter Rheims. 
Gergeau, where the Duke of Suffolk commanded, 
was taken first, then Beaugenci, where the Eng- 
lish general, Talbot, was himself made prisoner. 
'Next Troyes was captured, Chalons surrendered 
without resistance, and, on June 16, the French 
army came in sight of Rheims, which was still 
held by the English. When the garrison saw the 
approach of the victorious army, led by Jeanne, 
bearing her standard and her rusty sword, they 
became terrified and abandoned the city to the 


124 


JEANNE D’ARC. 


French, who entered triumphantly to take posses- 
sion. The following day, Charles VII was 
crowned amid extraordinary rejoicing in the 
cathedral of Rheims, Jeanne standing beside him, 
with her banner, during the ceremony. 

Her mission accomplished, Jeanne begged the 
newly-crowned king’s permission to return to her 
peaceful home and her old parents at Domremi, 
but her ^presence was considered indispensable to 
the success of the army, and Charles refused her 
request. 

Poor Jeanne’s troubles then began. Her advice 
was disregarded at court, where her enemies spared 
no pains to influence the king against her. She 
began to lose her power over the soldiers, who 
would not second her designs and frequently dis- 
obeyed her orders; but, in spite of these discour- 
agements, Jeanne continued to lead the troops 
against the English. She left Compiegme, then 
in possession of the French, on May 23, 1430, 
and met her first defeat, for, in attempting to at- 
tack an English post, Jeanne’s forces were re- 
pulsed. As the French approached Compiegne, 
on their return from this unsuccessful expedition, 
a detachment of the English made a rush to 
reach the city before them, and cut off their re- 
treat. When the French reached a bridge leading 
into Compiegne, they found the barrier closed. 
After waiting some time in this dangerous posi- 


JEANNE D’ARC. 


125 


tion, the barrier was opened, and the troops en- 
tered the city, just as their English pursuers 
reached the bridge. Jeanne, who marched, as 
usual, in the rear of the army, was left outside, 
and, after a desperate struggle was dragged from 
her horse and taken prisoner by the triumphant 
enemy. 

The English feared and hated Jeanne. They 
were ashamed to have been so easily vanquished 
by a woman, and many of them regarded the poor, 
innocent girl as a witch. A belief in witchcraft 
was rather common in the fifteenth century, and, 
indeed, much later. You remember the account, 
in your United States History, of the witchcraft 
delusion in Salem, more than two centuries after 
the tragedy of Jeanne d’Arc^s life had been en- 
acted. 

With incredible ingratitude and cruelty Charles, 
W’ho owed his crown and, probably all of his king- 
dom to Jeanne, made not the slightest effort to 
rescue her. She spent six weary months awaiting 
her trial, which took place in Eouen. The un- 
fortunate prisoner's courage never failed her, al- 
though she was cruelly treated, and confined in 
an iron cage, with her feet in stocks. I know 
that the English wish to kill me, in order that they 
may gain possession of France,” she said; '^but 
they will never be masters of this kingdom.” 
Jeanne bore herself bravely at her trial, and 


126 


JEANNE D’ARC. 


heard her sentence calmly. She was condemned 
to be burned to death in the market-place of 
Rouen, which is called to this day, Place de la 
Pucelle.” The poor girl flattered herself, to the 
last, with hopes of rescue. But alas ! the day for 
her execution dawned, and no troops of French 
soldiers appeared before her prison to deliver her 
from the dreadful death to which she had been 
sentenced. 

As Jeanne drove through the streets in the 
rough cart which conveyed her to the market- 
place, she wept, and exclaimed O Rouen, Rouen, 
you will suffer for my death.” Her confessor, 
who had accompanied her on that last terrible 
journey, remained at her side until the fatal fire 
was kindled. He recited the prayers for the dy- 
ing and held a crucifix before her eyes and she 
was heard to pronounce the Holy Hame of Jesus, 
before yielding up her brave soul to God. 

Twenty years after Jeanne’s death a papal 
bull, or decree of the pope, proclaimed her inno- 
cence and a cross was erected to her memory in 
the market-place of Rouen, which then received 
the name of Place de la Pucelle. 

It is difficult to understand the ingratitude 
of Jeanne’s own countrymen, in thus calmly 
abandoning her to her fate, or the cruelty of the 
English in putting to death the guileless and inno- 
cent country girl. Into the short span of Jeanne’s 


JEANNE D’ARC. 


127 


life (she lived only twenty years) there was 
crowded the work of a century, and generations 
yet to come will read with wonder and with pity, 
the tragic story of the Maid of Orleans. 


CHKISTOPHEE COLUMBUS. 

In the northern part of Italy, that lovely coun- 
try of Europe, there is a city on the Mediter- 
ranean Sea called the City of Palaces. Its name 
is Genoa, and hers, in the year 1435, Christopher 
Columbus was born. His father was a poor 
weaver, but managed to give his son a very good 
education, even sending him for a time to the 
university of Padua. 

From his early childhood Columbus showed a 
strong liking for the sea, and I suppose that his 
favorite amusement was sailing toy ships or play- 
ing sailor with his little companions in Genoa. 
At the age of fourteen he made his first voyage in 
the ship of a cousin of the same name, or 
Colombo, as it is called in Italian, and from then 
on he followed a sea-faring life. The life of a 
sailor in those days was anything but tranquil 
or secure. The boats of pirates or of hostile coun- 
tries were frequently met with when fierce fights 
took place. Even the different Italian states were 
at war, and once when Columbus was sailing off 
128 


CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 


129 


the coast of Portugal his vessel engaged in a con- 
flict with a Venetian ship which took fire. The 
two vessels had been fastened together with 
chains, and could not be separated before the one 
commanded by Columbus also began to burn. He 
threw himself into the sea, caught hold of an oar 
floating near him in the water, and managed to 
swim to shore, five miles away. 

In Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, Columbus 
met and married an Italian lady, the daughter of 
a great seaman and explorer. Her name was 
Felipa Monis de Perestrello. Her father’s charts, 
or maps of the sea, and accounts of the voyages he 
had made fell into Columbus’ hands, and it is 
probable that in this way he first planned his 
great voyage of discovery. He had long been sure 
that the world was round, like a ball, but supposed 
it to be much smaller than it really is, thinking 
that if he sailed directly westward from Europe, 
he would finally reach the eastern coast of Asia. 
This belief he held to the day of his death, and he 
never knew that he had discovered a new continent. 

Columbus’ native city, Genoa, and Venice, an- 
other Italian city were, at that time, powerful and 
rich. They enjoyed an immense trade with India, 
from which country their merchants imported 
great quantities of silks, jewels, ivory, spices and 
other products of the far East. These goods 
were carried many hundreds of miles on 
9 


130 


CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 


the backs of camels to the Black Sea where 
they were loaded on ships for Italy. In 1453, 
the Turks, a barbaric tribe from the interior 
of Asia, besieged and took the Christian city of 
Constantinople, thus closing the Black Sea, on 
which the city is situated, to the traders of Genoa 
and Venice. You see what a great loss this was to 
commerce and how naturally men’s minds should 
be occupied trying to find a new way of reaching 
India. This was Columbus’ dream, and he was 
constantly planning and scheming how he might 
realize it. He was poor, with a family to support, 
even helping his old father and his three younger 
brothers in Genoa. How could he think of fitting 
out even one ship for his undertaking ? But our 
hero never despaired. He waited patiently and 
trusted in God who at length rewarded him. 
After being refused aid by the King of Portugal, 
he applied to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella 
of Spain. They had his charts examined, consid- 
ered his plans and then rejected them, as the King 
of Portugal had done. Hoping they would change 
their minds, he waited five weary years, and then 
determined to ask help from Prance. With his 
son, Diego, he started sadly on his journey. How 
it happened that he had to pass the Franciscan 
monastery of La Kabida, and, as he was tired and 
hungry, he stopped to ask the good monks for 
something to eat^ and permission to rest. While 


CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 


131 


there, he told them of his idea of discovering a 
new way to the Indies, and of the many disap- 
pointments he had met with. The superior of the 
monastery had been the queen^s confessor, and he 
asked Columbus to delay his journey to France 
until he could speak with the sovereigns in the 
hope of prevailing on them to help him. The kind 
old monk set out at once for the court, and to his 
great joy, returned with a message for Columbus 
to appear again before the king and queen. This 
time he was heard with favor, the queen especially 
being so determined that he should make his voy- 
age of discovery that she promised to sell her 
jewels, if money for the enterprise could not he 
had in any other way. At last^ our hero was re- 
warded for all his patient waiting. Three ships 
were bought and manned, not without consider- 
able trouble, for the sailors regarded such an ex- 
pedition into unknown seas with fear and dread. 
In due time, everything was ready, and three little 
vessels, the Santa Maria (in which Columbus 
went) the Pinta and the Nina set sail on August 
1492, from the port of Palos, in southern Spain. 
You may be sure that Columbus and all his men 
heard Mass and received Holy Communion before 
they embarked, committing themselves with many 
devout prayers to the protection of the Holy 
Trinity and of the Blessed Virgin. The good 
superior of the convent of La Rahida stood upon 


132 


CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 


the shore and gave his blessing as the ships started 
westward. Having stopped at one of the Canary 
Islands to mend a broken rudder, the little fleet 
again set sail, this time into unknown seas. Many 
of the sailors shed tears when they saw land fading 
from view in the distance, but Columbus com- 
forted them with promises of land and riches in 
the countries to which they were going, speaking 
with so much certainty that he inspired them with 
confidence. 

How began an anxious time. Day after day, 
and week after week, nothing but a dreary waste 
of water. The men became restless, many wished 
to force Columbus to turn back, believing that he 
was taking them to certain destruction. They 
were calmed somewhat by a few signs of land 
which began to appear, such as a carved stick and 
a green branch with perfectly fresh berries on it, 
floating in the water. At length, after many dis- 
appointments, for the clouds on the horizon at sea 
often looked like land, and deceived the poor 
anxious sailors many times, a gun was fired, as a 
signal from the Pinta, and all knew that land had 
really been reached. A hymn was sung in the 
cabin of each ship, and prayers of thanksgiving 
said, we may imagine how fervently. 

On the morning of October 12, 1492, Columbus 
landed on an Island of the Bahama group to which 
he gave the name of San Salvador, or in English, 


CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 


133 


Holy Saviour, taking possession in the name of 
the Spanish sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella. 

The poor simple natives crowded around them, 
gazing with awe and wonder at the rich dresses 
and fair faces of the Spaniards, supposing them 
to be something like angels descended from the 
skies. Because Columbus thought he had reached 
a part of India, he called them Indians. Their 
good will was gained by presents of colored caps, 
little bells and glass beads which Columbus had 
brought with him. 

Having rested and refreshed himself, Columbus 
once more set sail to continue his voyage of dis- 
covery. He proceeded in a southerly direction, 
cruising along the coast of Cuba, until a storm 
forced him to anchor in a bay. He landed and 
erected a cross on a little hill near the shore. In 
Havana, the capital of Cuba, there is a chapel 
called the Templete. It marks the spot where the 
first Mass in Cuba was celebrated, and once a year, 
on the feast of St. Christopher, it is opened. Hot 
a month ago I stood under the spreading tree that 
shades the little building and could almost fancy 
I saw Columbus and his followers kneeling there, 
assisting at the Holy Sacrifice and thanking God 
for having preserved them from so many perils. 
The city of Havana is really named St. Christo- 
pher of the Havana, in honor of Columbus, and 
there hangs over one of the altars in the beautiful 


CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 


134 

cathedral a fine old painting of St. Christopher, 
the patron saint of the city. 

For many years, the remains of Columbus 
rested in a niche in the wall of the sanctuary in 
the Havana cathedral, but they were removed to 
Seville in Spain, not many years ago. I saw the 
place where his coffin had rested so long, and felt 
sorry that he had not been allowed to remain in 
the country he had discovered and for which he 
suffered so many trials. 

Having spent about three months cruising 
among the Islands of the West Indies, Columbus 
determined to return to Spain. Bad weather was 
encountered all the way, and, just as he was ex- 
pecting to sight land, a violent hurricane burst 
upon the three little vessels. When he reflected 
that his ships might be lost, and with them all 
records of his discoveries, the grief of Columbus 
was intense. He wrote a short account of his 
voyage, enclosed the paper in a cake of wax which 
he sealed up in a cloth, placed in a keg and threw 
into the sea, in the hope that it would one day 
be washed ashore and reach the sovereigns of 
Spain. This done, he gathered the crew in the 
cabin where fervent prayers were said for deliver- 
ance from the shipwreck which threatened them. 
It was determined that if they were spared, one of 
their number should make a pilgrimage to a shrine 
of the Blessed Virgin in Spain, called Santa Maria 


CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 


135 


de la Oueva. They drew lots, placing as many 
beans as there were persons on board, in a cap. 
One bean was marked with a cross and this was 
the one Columbus drew, the lot thus falling to him. 
Soon after, a streak of blue sky appeared in the 
West, the wind blew with less violence, and on 
March 15, Columbus entered the harbor of Palos, 
having taken about seven and a half months for 
his wonderful voyage. 

I could not describe to you the rejoicing and 
wonder of the people when the news spread that 
the three little vessels had really returned. The 
bells were rung, stores closed, and when Columbus 
landed, a great procession was formed to escort 
him to the church, where a solemn thanksgiving 
was offered to Almighty God for the discovery of 
the N"ew World. 

The court was then at Barcelona, in the north 
of Spain, and when the king and queen were noti- 
fied of Columbus’ return, they sent him a letter 
addressed to Don Christopher Columbus, our 
Admiral of the Ocean-sea, Viceroy and Governor 
of the Islands discovered in the Indies,” inviting 
him to repair at once to court. This he did, taking 
with him six Indians and various plants and 
curiosities brought from the Hew World. Upon 
his arrival at Barcelona, he was met by a number 
of courtiers and nobles, and a great crowd of peo- 
ple who formed a procession to escort him to the 


136 


CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 


presence of the king and queen. First in the 
parade marched the Indians, then came persons 
carrying live parrots, stuffed birds, and rare plants 
from the New World, and following these rode 
Columbus richly dressed, mounted on a splendid 
horse and surrounded by an escort of noblemen. 
He was received with every mark of distinction 
by Ferdinand and Isabella, and when he had given 
them an account of his voyage, they fell on their 
knees, and with tears of joy thanked God for his 
great mercy, after which the anthem Te Deum 
laudamus was sung by the choir of the royal 
chapel. 

The queen who was very pious, at once took 
steps for the conversion of the Indians. Those 
that Columbus had brought with him were bap- 
tized with great ceremony, the king, the queen, 
and other members of the royal family, standing 
sponsors for them. To minister to those in the 
West Indies, the pope appointed Father Bernard 
Boyle, apostolic vicar in the New World. He 
took with him, when he went to take charge of his 
new mission, vestments and ornaments for the al- 
tar which the queen had given from her own 
chapel. 

You may imagine how different Columbus’ 
second voyage was from the first. This time there 
was no difficulty in getting men to go with him, 
and he sailed in triumph from Cadiz on Septem- 


CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 


13Y 


ber 25, with three large vessels and fourteen 
smaller ones. He took with him all kinds of 
domestic animals and fowls to stock the islands 
of the West Indies, also the seeds of oranges, 
lemons, melons, and other European fruits. 

This voyage was a pleasant one, with fair 
weather, and on November 2, land was sighted. 
It was an island unknown to Columbus, one of a 
group all close together. He cruised about, look- 
ing for a good place to anchor, and, at last, came to 
a large island with a lofty mountain, from the 
sides of which gushed waterfalls, some of them so 
high up that they seemed to be falling from the 
sky. Here he landed, and, as a promise had been 
made to the monks of Guadalupe, a monastery in 
Spain, to call some new place for their convent, 
the island was given the name of Guadalupe. 
Columbus also discovered on this voyage the Island 
of Hayti, and Santo Domingo which he called 
Hispaniola. Here he founded the first city in 
the Hew World giving it the name of Isabella, in 
honor of the queen. Having seen the new city 
laid out into streets and the work of the house- 
building begun, Columbus appointed his brother, 
Bartholomew Columbus, and a man named Pedro 
Margarite, in command of the settlement, and left 
to continue his discoveries. After an absence of 
four months during which time he discovered 
Jamaica and cruised around the southern end of 


138 


CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 


Cuba, he returned to Isabella. Here all was in 
confusion. Sickness had attacked the Spaniards, 
many of them had died, the new city was almost 
a ruin, and worst of all, Pedro Margarite had de- 
serted his post and left for Spain to report to the 
sovereigns how badly things had gone in the new 
settlement of Isabella. Fortunately for Columbus, 
just at this time, a ship arrived in Spain from 
Hispaniola, with news of his return from the dis- 
covery of Jamaica, and bringing specimens of 
gold found in the !N’ew World. 

The king and queen decided to send some one to 
examine into the state of the colony. Hot wishing 
to offend Columbus, they appointed a close friend 
of his, Juan Aguado to be the commissioner. A 
false friend he proved to be, for he acted in a 
high-handed manner, made the colonists think he 
had been sent to take Columbus^ place, and alto- 
gether drove our poor hero almost to distraction. 
Wishing to set himself right with Ferdinand and 
Isabella, Columbus determined to return to Spain, 
setting sail when Aguado did, but in a different 
vessel. On his arrival he succeeded in clearing 
himself of the suspicion under which he had 
rested, even obtaining many new rights and privi- 
leges from the crown. 

Happy over his success, he started on his third 
voyage to the Hew World on May 30, 1498 with 
six vessels. He sailed farther to the southward 


CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 


139 


than ever before, and landed on the continent, in 
what is now Venezuela, South America. After 
cruising for a while in that vicinity, he returned 
to the settlement of Isabella. But, alas! matters 
here had gone from bad to worse. There was 
much sickness and great discontent among the 
Spaniards, who blamed Columbus for all their 
troubles. The friendly Indians had been changed 
into enemies by the wicked conduct of some of the 
settlers, and I think that then the brave spirit of 
Columbus was really broken. In the meantime 
his enemies had again been busy in Spain. They 
accused him to the king and queen of being a 
tyrant and said all kinds of unjust things about 
him. The sovereigns finally listened to . these com- 
plaints, and sent an officer of the royal household, 
Francisco de Bobadilla to take command of the 
new colony, and if he thought proper, to send 
Columbus back to Spain for trial. This authority 
he used to the utmost, even going so far as to 
arrest Columbus and put him in chains. It was 
with difficulty that a man would be found willing 
to rivet the chains. At last a cook, one of 
Columbus’ own servants, to his shame be it said, 
fastened the irons upon the limbs of the innocent 
and venerable prisoner. The master of the vessel 
in which Columbus sailed for Spain wished to re- 
lieve him of them, but he refused, saying that he 
would only take them off at the order of his sover- 


140 


CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 


eign. He kept these chains in his room until the 
day of his death, to remind him, he said, of the 
vanity of earthly greatness. 

When Columbus arrived, a prisoner in Spain, 
there was great anger among the people at the 
outrageous way in which he had been treated, 
lie received a letter from the king and queen in- 
viting him to court, rdiere he was received with 
every mark of favor. He had written a letter to 
a lady of the royal household in which he said 
that the slanders of worthless men had done him 
more harm than all his services had profited him, 
and that if he built hospitals and churches his 
enemies would call them dens of robbers. This 
letter seems to have had some influence over the 
king and queen, for justice was done, to a certain 
extent, although he was never restored entirely to 
the rights he enjoyed when the colony of His- 
paniola was founded. 

Although much worn in mind and body, Colum- 
bus now made ready for his fourth and last voy- 
age to the New World. This time he cruised far 
to the westward, crossing the Caribbean Sea and 
landing in what is now Honduras, Central Amer- 
ica. Stormy weather was encountered and he 
was at one time in great danger of shipwreck. All 
this anxiety wore upon him, sick and feeble as he 
was, and several times it seemed as if his end was 
near. He resolved to visit Hispaniola and 


CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 141 

Jamaica, but wbat he found there only added 
to his troubles. The Indians, at first so 
gentle and friendly, had become cruel ene- 
mies of the Spaniards, who had to fight several 
fierce battles with them before they could be 
conquered. There had been serious disagree- 
ments among the colonists, many of them 
blaming Columbus for their sufferings. All these 
troubles were too much for his failing strength, 
and he set sail for Spain, hoping to find there, in 
his home at Seville, rest and consolation. But a 
new trial awaited him. It was his hope that the 
sovereigns would restore to him certain rights in 
the affairs of the Hew World which had been taken 
from him, and it is probable that this would have 
been done if the queen had lived. However, her 
death occurred very shortly after his return. The 
loss of this constant and faithful friend was a sad 
blow. He was writing to his son Diego when the 
mournful news reached him, and he added a post- 
script to his letter asking him to pray for the re- 
pose of the queen’s soul. Her life was always 
Catholic and holy ” he wrote, and prompt to all 
things in God’s holy service; for this reason we 
may rest assured that she is received into His 
glory and beyond the care of this rough and weary 
world.” 

This was the last of Columbus’ many sorrows. 
His illness continued to increase but in the midst 


142 


CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 


of his pains he did not neglect to make his will 
and to arrange for the distribution of many small 
gifts. Even a poor Jew in the city of Lisbon was 
to receive a small piece of silver, probably for 
some little service be had once rendered to Colum- 
bus. After receiving the Last Sacraments with 
great fervor, Columbus died on the beautiful feast 
of the Ascension, 1506, his last words being: 

Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.” 

His body rested for a time in the chapel of a 
monastery in Seville, but was afterwards removed 
to Hispaniola where it remained for many years 
in the cathedral of the city of Santo Domingo. 
Then it was brought to Havana, Cuba, where it 
rested until the close of the war which freed Cuba 
from Spanish rule. When the Spaniards left the 
island, they caused Columbus^ remains to be 
taken from the cathedral in Havana and brought 
to Spain. They were placed in the cathedral of 
Seville, where they now repose, I hope, to be dis- 
turbed no more. 

Columbus was tall and handsome, with bright 
eyes and fair hair which trouble had turned quite 
white before he was thirty-five years old. You 
have seen how pious he was, and how in all his 
troubles he never failed to recommend himself and 
his affairs to the care of Almighty God and of His 
Blessed Mother. It was his custom never to de- 


CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 143 

part on a voyage without first going to confession 
and receiving Holy Communion. 

Columbus had, in this world, but a poor reward 
for all his sufferings and labors, but God^s ways 
are not our ways, and we may hope and believe 
that the great discoverer of our country has found 
in heaven the recompense which was denied him 
on earth. 


FEKDINAXD AXD ISABELLA. 


the year 1451, there was born, at Madrigal, 
in Spain, a princess destined to play an important 
part in the history of her native land. Isabella 
was the only daughter of John II, king of Castile 
and his second wife, Isabella of Portugal. She was 
but four years of age when her father died, and, 
upon her elder brother's accession to the throne, 
was removed from court to the seclusion of the 
little town of Arvelo where she was trained by her 
good mother, in every virtue proper to her station 
in life. The little princess began, very early, to 
develop a strong practical piety and a discretion 
and prudence very rare in one of her age. 

At that time Spain was divided into four inde- 
pendent kingdoms, Castile, Aragon, Navarre and 
the Moorish Kingdom of Granada. This last had 
been in possession of the Moors for seven hundred 
years, in spite of the fact that repeated attempts 
had been made, to expel them from Spain. We 
shall see how the young princess Isabella became 
a powerful instrument in ridding her country of 
the scourge of the infidel. 

144 


FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. I45 

Wlien Isabella was about fourteen years of age, 
several suitors for her hand had already presented 
themselves. Her brother wished to marry her to 
King Alfonso of Portugal, who was old enough to 
be her grandfather. With great courage, she de- 
clined the proposed marriage, and reminded King 
Henry that the infantas of Castile could not be 
lawfully disposed of in marriage without the con- 
sent of the nobles of the realm. She was then be- 
trothed to a Castilian nobleman, Don Pedro 
Giron, who died suddenly a short time before the 
date set for the nuptials. The idea of this mar- 
riage had been very repugnant to poor Isabella, 
owing to the character of her intended husband 
who, although past middle age, led a wild and 
vicious life. King Henry selfishly wished to serve 
his own interests in marrying his sister to a per- 
son so unsuited to her, and it seems just that his 
design should have been thwarted on the very eve 
of fulfillment, when all preparations for the wed- 
ding had already been made. 

There was another suitor whom Isabella’s 
brother regarded with slight favor. Ferdinand 
was a younger son of King John of Aragon and 
Queen Joanna, a Castilian princess. He was a 
handsome young man, of pleasing address, and 
possessed, like Isabella, a maturity of judgment, 
far in advance of his years. A faction of Castil- 
ian noblemen opposed the union of Ferdinand and 
10 


146 


FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 


Isabella because it conflicted with their own inter- 
ests, and, as some of them were high in the king’s 
favor, they prevailed upon Henry, not only to re- 
fuse his consent to the proposed match, but also 
to threaten Isabella with imprisonment in the 
fortress of Madrid, if she would not abandon all 
idea of marrying Ferdinand. The young princess 
bore herself with wonderful courage and fortitude 
ill the midst of her trials, although it is doubtful 
whether she could have persisted in defying her 
brother, if a faithful friend, the archbishop of 
Toledo, had not aided and encouraged her. The 
good prelate obtained the consent of the majority 
of the ^Castilian nobles, to Isabella’s union with 
Ferdinand, and preparations for the marriage 
were accordingly begun. 

The young Prince of Aragon promised to re- 
spect the laws of Castile and to fix his residence in 
that country, to make no civil appointments with- 
out the consent of Isabella, to respect her brother, 
King Henry, and to prosecute the war against the 
Moors. These negotiations were concluded while 
King Henry was in the southern part of his domin- 
ions where an insurrection had broken out. When 
the king’s adherents saw that Isabella’s marriage 
to the young Prince of Aragon was likely to occur, 
they formed a desperate plan to prevent it. They 
determined to send a military force to Madrigal, 
where the princess bad gone with her mother, and 


FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 


147 


to capture and hold her a prisoner until the return 
of her brother. The inhabitants of the town were 
warned against rendering her any assistance, un- 
der pain of the king’s severe displeasure, but a 
few faithful friends managed to convey to her 
the news of her danger. Isabella, upon receiving 
these alarming tidings, at once sent word to the 
archbishop of Toledo, apprising him of her situa- 
tion and begging him to send assistance without 
delay. In an incredibly short time, a body of 
horse and some foot-soldiers under the command 
of Admiral Henriquez, were despatched to Isa- 
bella’s aid. So rapidly did they travel that they 
reached Madrigal before the enemy. Isabella was 
borne oil in triumph, by her rescuers, to the 
friendly city of Valladolid, where she awaited the 
arrival of Ferdinand. 

Envoys had been despatched to Aragon with the 
news of Henry’s absence and of the attempt which 
had been made to capture the infanta. Ferdi- 
nand, thus warned of the hostility he was likely 
to meet with, was obliged to travel disguised as a 
servant, and the future king of Spain waited on 
his companions at table, and tended the mules on 
that strange and perilous journey. 

Great was the joy at Valladolid when Ferdinand 
and his escort arrived, and four days later, Oct. 
19, 1470, the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon 
and the Infanta Isabella of Castile, was celebrated. 


148 


FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 


The young couple who afterwards became the 
most powerful monarchs of their time in Europe, 
were then so poor that it was found necessary to 
borrow money for the expenses of their nuptials. 

The newly-wedded pair wrote to King Henry, 
acquainting him with the news of their marriage 
and assuring him of their loyalty. He returned 
a curt answer telling them that he would advise 
with his ministers. This was discouraging, for 
without Henry’s good will, the position of Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella was uncomfortable and even 
dangerous. Fortunately, through the good offices 
of friends, a reconciliation was brought about be- 
tween Henry and his sister, an event which was 
closely followed by the king’s death. 

The character of Henry IV was not calculated 
to make his reign a happy one for his subjects. 
He was weak, selfish and vacillating, entirely un- 
der the dominion of a few favorites, he disre- 
garded the rights of the majority of his subjects, 
and confusion, anarchy and civil war prevailed 
during his unhappy reign. He had named, as 
his successor on the throne of Castile, his daughter 
Joanna, whose right to reign was denied by a 
large and powerful faction, who espoused the 
cause of Isabella. The unhappy country was 
again embroiled in a disastrous civil war, called 
the War of the Succession, which lasted about four 
years. Although Joanna^s uncle, the king of 


FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 


149 


Portugal came to her aid, the cause of Isabella 
finally triumphed. The pious queen, when she 
learned of the successful issue of the war, walked 
barefoot, in a procession to church, where she of- 
fered up prayers of thanksgiving to God for the 
victory He had vouchsafed to her. It was a most 
happy victory, not alone for Isabella, but for all 
her subjects. The good queen and her husband 
at once took steps to remedy the many abuses 
which had crept in during the reign of Henry, and 
to preserve law and order throughout their 
dominion. Hew laws were made, old ones revised, 
and, in order to see that justice was properly dis- 
pensed the king and queen took their places 
every Friday in the alcazar, or court of Madrid, 
where they heard the suits of rich and poor alike. 
A writer of the period calls this the golden age 
of justice.’’ 

When Ferdinand and Isabella had reigned a 
few months as sovereigns of Castile, Ferdinand’s 
father, the king of Aragon, died. The heir to 
the throne of Aragon, Prince Carlos, had died be- 
fore his father, and thus the kingdom came into 
possession of Ferdinand, and the kingdoms of 
Castile and Aragon were united. 

After the affairs of the kingdom were set in 
order, and the machinery of the government was 
running smoothly, Ferdinand and Isabella turned 
their attention to a work which nearly every Span- 


150 


FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 


ish ruler had attempted during a period of seven 
hundred years, the expulsion of the Moors from 
Spain. 

In the eighth century, all of Spain was 
governed by the Gothic king, Koderick. This 
ruler was a selfish and wicked man, and some of 
his acts so angered his subjects, that a few of the 
more reckless and daring actually crossed the 
Strait of Gibraltar, landed in that part of Africa 
belonging to the Arabs, and represented to the 
Arabian leader, Muza Ben Noseir that he could 
easily invade Spain, and conquer that delightful 
land. Muza had heard vague rumors of the 
beauty and fertility of the kingdom which was so 
close to his own that, on a clear day, its coast was 
plainly visible. The Moorish leader needed but 
little persuasion to put into execution so tempting 
a project, and soon the Spaniards were thrown into 
confusion by the appearance of those strange tur- 
baned warriors, who managed their spirited horses 
and wielded their scimitars with so much grace 
and skill. 

As soon as King Koderick learned that the in- 
vaders had landed in his dominions, he marched 
with ninety thousand men, to oppose them. The 
Spaniards and Moors met face to face on 
a plain traversed by the Kiver Guadalete, 
where a fearful battle took place, resulting 
in the total defeat of the Spaniards whose 


FERDINAND AND ISAAELLA. 151 

king was killed. The victors pursued their 
advantage and captured many cities and 
towns until a large part of Spain was in their 
power. As time passed, some of this conquered 
territory had been wrested from them by differ- 
ent Spanish rulers, until at the end of the fif- 
teenth century, only the kingdom of Granada re- 
mained in possession of the Moors. It was the 
dream of Ferdinand and Isabella to restore that 
beautiful territory to the dominion of Spain and 
of the church. During the reign of Isabella's 
brother, Henry, the Moors had discontinued pay- 
ment of a customary yearly tribute to the Castilian 
crown. This breach of faith was not noticed, or, 
at least, not resented by the weak predecessor of 
Isabella, but, on her accession to the throne, it 
was determined to force the payment of the trib- 
ute. A Spanish knight, Don Juan de Vera, was 
sent to the court of Granada, to confer with the 
Moorish ruler, Muley Abul Hassan. The Moors, 
wishing to impress the envoy and his train, with 
their magnificence, received their hostile visitors 
with great pomp, in the splendid palace of the 
Alhambra. When the message from the Castilian 
sovereigns was delivered, the Moorish king smiled 
bitterly and said tell your king and queen that 
the kings of Granada who used to pay money to 
the Castilian crown, are dead. Our mint coins 
nothing at present but blades of scimitars and 


152 


FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 


heads of lances.’’ Don Juan de Vera returned 
with this defiant reply to his sovereigns, and re- 
ported the condition of the Moorish dominions. 
The kingdom of Muley Abul Hassan contained 
fourteen cities, ninety-seven fortified places, and 
a large number of unwalled towns and villages 
defended by strong fortresses. Granada, the capi- 
tal, was a splendid city surrounded by high walls, 
from which rose lofty watch-towers, one thousand 
and thirty in number. 

Before the armies of Castile were ready to 
march against Granada, the Moors attacked the 
city of Zahara and took many Spanish women 
and children captive. The news of this disaster 
instilled fresh energy into the Spanish troops and 
very soon they were prepared to carry fire and 
sword into the Moorish territory. The first at- 
tempt was -made upon the rich and important 
Moorish city of Alhama, not far distant from 
Granada. Under cover of night, the Spanish 
troops scaled the walls, surprised the guard, and 
were in possession of the city before sunrise. 
When Muley Abul Hassan heard of this triumph 
of the Castilian forces, he determined to re-capture 
Alhama, if possible. Setting out with a numerous 
army, he reached the vicinity of Alhama, where 
his fury against the Spaniards was increased by 
the sight of numbers of dead bodies, the remains 
of the Moorish soldiers who had fallen in the act 


FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 


153 


of defending the city. The Moors rushed like 
maniacs to the walls, applied their ladders and 
prepared to take the place by storm. But the 
Spaniards were not to be so easily vanquished. 
As fast as the Moors reached the battlements, they 
were thrown down, their ladders overturned and 
stones and darts hurled after them. The battle 
lasted one entire day, and in the evening the Moors 
withdrew, having lost two thousand men in killed 
and wounded. Despairing of taking Alhama by 
assault, the Moorish leader resolved to turn the 
channel of the river from the city, and, by de- 
priving the Spaniards of water, to compel them to 
come to terms. The place had neither fountains 
nor cisterns, as the entire water supply was ob- 
tained from the river. In spite of desperate efforts 
on the part of the Spaniards to prevent the Moors 
from accomplishing their purpose, the river was 
diverted from its course, and the terrible suffering 
of thirst began to be felt by the brave little army 
in possession of Alhama. Messengers were hastily 
despatched to Seville and Cordova, to implore 
immediate aid for the Spaniards in their desperate 
plight. The Marquis of Cadiz was in command 
of the forces at Alhama, and when his wife learned 
of his perilous situation, she lost no time in pro- 
curing assistance. Strangely enough, her hus- 
band’s enemy, Don Juan de Guzman, she con- 
sidered eminently qualified for the difficult and 


154 


FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 


dangerous task of rescuing the Spanish garrison 
at Alhama. She implored his aid, which was gen- 
erously given and the two enemies became the 
warmest friends from the time of their meeting 
in Alhama. In the meantime the Moors made 
another attempt to storm the city, for they thought 
that the Spaniards, weakened by the sufferings of 
thirst, would be unable to offer any resistance. 
The conflict was raging when a Moorish scout 
brought the unwelcome tidings that a great army 
was marching to the relief of the enemy. The 
Moors then determined to return to Granada, and 
great was the surprise of the Spaniards when they 
saw their foes marching away. The cause of this 
unexpected movement was apparent, when the 
standard of Don Juan de Guzman was seen emer- 
ging from a mountain-pass. Then the joy of the 
garrison knew no bounds. They embraced their 
deliverers, weeping for joy. The two former ene- 
mies, the Marquis of Cadiz and Don Juan de 
Guzman sat down together to a bountiful repast 
which the wife of the Marquis had provided. Joy 
prevailed where recently there had been suffering 
and despair. A garrison of fresh troops remained 
at Alhama, while the brave soldiers who had de- 
fended the city at the price of so much suffering, 
were dismissed to their homes. 

It would take too much time to describe the cap- 
ture, by the Castilian forces, of one Moorish 


FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 


165 


stronghold after another. Finally there remained 
in the possession of the Arabs only the city of 
Granada, their capital, and they determined to de- 
fend it with all the energy which their desperate 
situation called forth. 

Queen Isabella established her home in the 
camp before Granada in order to encourage the 
troops, and also to superintend the care of the sick 
and wounded. She shared with the soldiers all 
the hardships of the campaign, and was, at times 
exposed to great danger. Not long before the 
surrender of Granada, the camp caught fire and 
the queen’s pavilion was blazing when she and 
her children were rescued. The Moorish leader, 
Boabdil, was overjoyed when he saw that the 
camp of his enemies had been reduced to a smoking 
ruin, for he was confident that the Castilian forces 
would be withdrawn from the plain before Gran- 
ada. Imagine, therefore, his disappointment 
when the Spanish soldiers began to build a city of 
substantial houses on the site of the former camp. 
The troops wished to give the new city the name of 
their beloved queen, but Isabella insisted that it 
should be called Santa Fe, which means Holy 
Faith, to be a reminder, she said, of the purpose 
for which the war against the infidel had been un- 
dertaken. 

The besieged city of Granada at length began 
to suffer the horrors of famine. The Moorish 


156 


FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 


king, Boabdil, had cherished a hope of obtaining 
aid from his countrymen in Africa — but this hope 
proved a vain one, and, when the inhabitants of 
Granada were reduced to the last extremity, an 
emissary was sent to treat with Ferdinand and 
Isabella for terms. After some delay, all arrange- 
ments for the surrender of Granada were agreed 
upon, and in the month of December, 1491, Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella led their victorious army into 
the city, which the Moors, with weeping and lam- 
entation, had abandoned. 

The king and queen at once gave orders to 
change the mosques of Granada into Catholic 
churches, which were consecrated and adorned 
with great magnificence. The queen took special 
delight in embroidering the altar-cloths and vest- 
ments used in these churches, and in supervising 
the decorations of the altars. The royal family 
took up their residence in the splendid palace of 
the Alhambra, which had long been the home of 
the Moorish kings. The Oriental beauty and 
magnificence of this building have been the won- 
der and delight of travelers, even in modern times. 
To the Spaniards, who were unaccustomed to the 
graceful beauty and lavish ornamentation of the 
Eastern style of architecture, the edifices of Gran- 
ada must have seemed almost like the work of 
magicians. 

Following closely upon the expulsion of the 


FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 


157 


Moors from Spain, another event shed still more 
Inster upon the glorious reign of Ferdinand and 
Isabella. This was the discovery, by Christopher 
Columbus, of the new continent of America. The 
expenses of the doubtful and hazardous expedition 
had been supplied, through the efforts of Isabella, 
by the crown of Castile, and the immense territory 
discovered by Columbus was added to the domin- 
ions of that kingdom. 

After the conquest of Granada, Ferdinand and 
Isabella turned their attention to the founding of 
schools for the education of Spanish youth, a 
work in which they were ably assisted by the illus- 
trious Cardinal Ximenes. In a short time, Alcala, 
Salamanca, Toledo, Seville, and Granada, each 
possessed an academy of repute with the most 
learned native and foreign teachers. So well 
patronized were these institutions of learning, 
that upon the occasion of a visit of the king to 
Alcala, seven thousand students marched out from 
the university to meet him. Printing-presses were 
set up in all the principal cities of the realm, and 
German printers were offered many inducements 
to take up their residence in Spain, until the 
native printers could be thoroughly taught. 

The royal children were educated with the 
greatest care. Prince John, the heir to the throne, 
was required to preside over a mimic council, 
exactly modeled on a council of state, where topics 


168 


FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 


connected with government were debated and dis- 
cussed. The three daughters of the king and 
queen, Isabella, Joanna and Katherine, were in- 
structed in Latin and in other branches of learn- 
ing, not usually taught to women in the fifteenth 
century. Sad to relate, Ferdinand and Isabella 
suffered, through these beloved and carefully edu- 
cated children, the greatest sorrow of their lives. 
The young prince, John, who gave promise of be- 
coming a worthy successor to his illustrious par- 
ents, died suddenly, at the age of twenty. Their 
daughter Isabella, became a widow within a few 
months after her marriage to the king of Portugal. 
Joanna, who was united in marriage to Philip of 
Flanders, became hopelessly insane and is known 
in Spanish history, as Juana la loca, or Joanna the 
maniac. Katherine, the youngest child of the 
royal family became the wife of Henry VIII of 
England, who divorced her and kept her prac- 
tically a prisoner until her death. 

The crown of Aragon possessed considerable ter- 
ritory in Italy, where war broke out, and, as Ferdi- 
nand^s dominions were in danger, an army was 
despatched to Kaples, under the able command of 
Gonsalvo de Cordova. This brave general was 
called by the Spaniards, el gran capitan,” or the 
great captain, and he won a brilliant victory in 
Naples, thus adding fresh glory to the arms of 
Aragon. 


FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 


159 


While these events were taking place in Italy, 
the shadow of a great calamity hung over Spain. 
Isabella was seized with a malignant fever, which 
also attacked the king. Ferdinand was able to 
throw off the malady, but the queen, whose consti- 
tution had been weakened by anxiety over the 
mental condition of her daughter, Joanna, gradu- 
ally succumbed. She made all preparations for 
death with the greatest calmness and fortitude. 
Her will provided for the future government of 
Castile, which she settled on Joanna and Philip, 
giving them much excellent advice regarding the 
management of public affairs. Her remains she 
wished transported to the . monastery of Santa 
Isabella, in Granada and deposited in a low and 
humble sepulcher, with no memorial but a plain 
inscription.” The queen concluded her will with 
a bequest of her jewels to Ferdinand that he 
may be reminded of the singular love I bore him 
through life, and that I will pray for him cease- 
lessly after death,” are the words which the pious 
Isabella dictated on her death-bed. Her ladies 
surrounded her, weeping and lamenting. Do not 
weep for me,” she said, nor waste your time in 
prayers for my recovery, pray rather for the sal- 
vation of my soul.” The last sacraments were ad- 
ministered, and shortly after, Isabella breathed 
her last. She was fifty-four years of age, and had 
reigned over Castile for thirty years. 


160 


FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 


Isabella has been compared to Queen Elizabeth 
of England, whose career somewhat resembled her 
own. Both of these sovereigns suffered many 
vicissitudes in early life, and each one saw the 
power of her kingdom greatly increased during 
her reign. In character, however, they had noth- 
ing in common, for the vain, selfish and crafty 
nature of Elizabeth, was not worthy to be compared 
with that of the saintly Isabella, who possessed 
every virtue befitting the Catholic wife and 
mother, besides the good sense, justice and mag- 
nanimity of a wise ruler. Foreign writers joined 
in celebrating the glories of her reign, and the 
beauty of her character, and her own subjects re- 
garded her as the example of every virtue. A 
Spanish writer of the period referred to the day of 
her death as the last of the prosperity and happi- 
ness of Spain.^^ 

After Isabella's death, Ferdinand resigned the 
regency of Castile to his daughter Joanna and her 
husband Philip, both poorly qualified to reign 
over a country which had enjoyed the mild and 
beneficent rule of Ferdinand and Isabella. 

For reasons of state, Ferdinand married the 
niece of the French king, Louis XII. Germaine 
de la Foix was the lady’s name, and she had one 
child, a son, who died in infancy, to the intense 
disappointment of the king, who desired an heir 
to succeed him. Affairs in Italy demanded the 


FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 161 

preseiKje of Ferdinand, and he accordingly em- 
barked for N'aples, with a numerous army. Dur- 
ing his absence from Spain, his son-in-law, Philip 
of Flanders, died. Joanna, who had been insane 
for some time, became worse after her husband’s 
death, and had to be removed to a retired resi- 
dence in the country. During the minority of 
Joanna’s infant son, Charles, Ferdinand assumed 
the regency of Castile, retaining it until his 
death. 

In the latter part of the year 1515, Ferdinand 
started on a journey to the south of Spain. His 
health had been failing for some time, and when 
the little town of Madrigalejo was reached, the 
king was so ill that he could not continue his jour- 
ney. At first, he cherished hopes of restoration 
to health, but when his physicians assured him 
that he was on his death-bed, he made his confes- 
sion and received the last sacraments. His death 
occurred, January 22, 1506, in the sixty-fourth 
year of his age. 

Ferdinand of Aragon owes his prominent place 
in history, at least in part to his illustrious wife 
Isabella, who far surpassed him in courage, wis- 
dom and other qualities which compose the char- 
acter of the successful and beloved ruler. After 
Isabella’s death, Ferdinand lost the love of his 
people, who were disgusted with his ill-advised 
second marriage. An astute writer of the perio(J 
11 


162 


FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 


has described Ferdinand of Aragon as a lucky 
rather than a wise prince.’’ 

In the royal chapel of the cathedral in Granada, 
there are two magnificently carved sepulchers of 
alabaster, erected to the memory of Ferdinand 
and Isabella by their grandson and successor 
Charles V. This lovely chapel is filled with memo- 
rials of the Catholic sovereigns whose glorious 
reign restored the kingdom of Granada to Spanish 
rule. We love to linger before the effigy of Isa- 
bella, one of the noblest queens who ever graced 
a throne, while we call to mind what a celebrated 
English statesman said of her, She was an honor 
to her sex, and the corner-stone of the greatness of 
Spain.” 


KATHAEINE OF AKAGOK 


Katharine of Aragon was the youngest daugh- 
ter of those great Spanish sovereigns, Ferdinand 
and Isabella, under whose patronage, Columbus 
discovered the Kew World. 

She was born amid the stir of battle, for the 
armies of her parents were then engaged in wrest- 
ing from the infidel Arabs, that territory in the 
south of Spain, of which they had been in posses- 
sion for more than seven hundred years. Queen 
Isabella invariably accompanied the army, and 
after the fall of La Ronda, she set out to spend 
the Christmas holidays at Toledo, then the chief 
city of Spain. In the course of her journey, the 
queen stopped at Alcala de Henares, where the 
little princess was born, December 15, 1485* Her 
birth was hailed with joy, and her baptism was 
celebrated with all possible pomp. She was named 
Catalina, which is Spanish for Katharine, the 
name by which she is known in English history. 

At that time, Spain was divided into two inde- 
pendent kingdoms, one of them, Aragon, was King 
Ferdinand^s domain, the other, Castile, Queen 
Isabella’s. Katharine took her name from her 
163 


164 


KATHARINE OF ARAGON. 


father’s kingdom, and was always known as 
Katharine of Aragon. 

Our little princess spent the first four years of 
her life in the camp of her parents, before the city 
of Granada, of which the Moors still held posses- 
sion. They sallied forth one night, and set fire to 
the pavilion in which slept Katharine and her lit- 
tle brother and sisters. The royal children were 
rescued, after much difficulty, from the dreadful 
death which threatened them. 

A few months later, the city of Granada, the 
last stronghold of the Moors, surrendered to the 
victorious arms of Aragon and Castile, and the 
little Katharine was taken with her parents, when 
they made their triumphant entry into Granada. 
This lovely city, a paradise of marble palaces, 
sparkling fountains and old gardens, perfumed 
with countless orange blossoms and roses, and re- 
sounding with the songs of nightingales, was 
henceforth to be the little Katharine’s home. 
Her mother, Queen Isabella, who was very 
learned and pious, being anxious that her little 
daughter should be taught all the learning and 
accomplishments of that period, her education was 
begun when she was about five years of age. She 
learned rapidly, and became very proficient in 
Latin, a rare accomplishment for a woman in those 
days. 

Granada is the Spanish word for pomegranate, 


KATHARINE OF ARAGON. 


165 


and the pomegranate was the device that Katha- 
rine adopted for her own. In England this device 
may still be seen among the ornaments of certain 
old buildings with which Katharine was associ- 
ated, among them the well of St. Winifred, of 
which she was a benefactress. 

In the year 1501, the Princess Katharine, being 
sixteen years of age, there was an interruption to 
her peaceful and happy life in Granada. An em- 
bassy arrived there from England, soliciting her 
hand in marriage for the English king^s eldest 
son. Prince Arthur. Her parents consented, and 
Katharine bade farewell to them and to her sis- 
ters, sailing for England from the Spanish* port 
of Coruna, August 17th. 

Imagine, my dear children, the sadness of this 
young princess, scarcely more than a child, thus 
compelled to leave her beloved family and her 
beautiful home, for that cold, foreign land where 
the poor stranger was destined to suffer so many 
bitter trials. 

Her ship encountered contrary winds and was 
forced back on the Spanish coast. She re-em- 
barked in a better vessel on September 26th, and 
after a fair voyage landed safely at the English 
port of Plymouth. The entrance of the young 
princess into her new domain was dismal enough. 
A dreary Kovember rain was falling, the cold was 
very penetrating and caused great discomfort to 


166 


KATHARINE OF ARAGON. 


herself and to her retinue, accustomed to the balmj 
air and warm sunshine of the south. 

King Henry VII, Katharine^s future father-in- 
law, was notified of her arrival, and set out at 
once, accompanied by a large number of digni- 
taries, to meet and welcome her to his dominions. 
Just outside of Dogmer^s field, where Katharine 
was stopping, he was met by a number of Spanish 
gentlemen who had accompanied her. Their mis- 
sion in riding forward to meet him, was the rather 
difficult one of telling him that it was King Ferdi- 
nand^s wish that neither the king, nor Prince 
Arthur, nor, in fact, any man should behold the 
face of Katharine until after her marriage. This 
strange rule of Spanish etiquette caused great con- 
sternation among the English and aroused the an- 
ger of King Henry, who declared that he would 
see the princess in spite of them, that was what 
he had come for, and he would not be turned aside 
from his purpose. 

Seeing him so determined, the Spaniards finally 
yielded, and admitted him to the presence of his 
future daughter-in-law. She understood no Eng- 
lish, King Henry no Spanish, but they exchanged 
compliments by means of the Latin language. 
Presently the king went in search of his son. 
Prince Arthur, who had been patiently waiting 
outside and presented him to his future bride. 

The young couple had been betrothed by proxy, 


KATHARINE OF ARAGON. 


167 


but now they went through the ceremony in per- 
son. A quaint account is given by an old chroni- 
cler of this betrothal, and of the way all the noble 
company amused themselves afterwards, the prin- 
cess calling for her Spanish minstrels, she and her 
ladies with goodly behavior solaced themselves 
right pleasantly with dancing.” 

Then began the tedious journey to London, a 
journey which lasted several days, not alone on 
account of the bad roads, but also because the peo- 
ple, anxious for a view of their future queen, 
crowded along the road and necessarily delayed 
her progress. At one place she was met by Lord 
Henry Stafford and the Abbot of Bury, with a 
company of four hundred people, dressed in the 
Stafford livery of scarlet and black, the Abbot, in 
a speech, welcoming Katharine to England. 

At Kensington Palace, near London, the prin- 
cess was lodged until preparations could be made 
for her formal entry into the city. On Kovember 
12th all was ready, and Katharine, with a large 
escort of lords and ladies, made her entrance into 
London. She was seated on a mule, according to 
the custom of her country, and was curiously 
dressed, wearing a large, round hat, under which 
was a veil of crimson with gold lace. Her maids 
of honor wore similar hats. Each Spanish lady^s 
mule was led by an English lady dressed in cloth 
of gold and riding on horseback. The people of 


168 


KATHARINE OF ARAGON. 


London welcomed her with a great representation, 
or kind of play, of her patroness, Saint Katharine. 

And now. Saint PauFs Cathedral was made 
ready for the royal nuptials. A high platform 
covered with crimson cloth was erected, so that 
all might see the ceremony which took place on 
the morning of November 14th, 1501. Kathar- 
ine was conducted to the Cathedral by the young 
H-enry, Duke of York, who afterwards became 
her second husband. She was attired in a magnifi- 
cent gown of white satin, with a long veil which 
completely concealed her face. This veil was em- 
broidered with gold and pearls. The bridegroom, 
Prince Arthur, met her at the church where the 
Archbishop of Canterbury performed the mar- 
riage ceremony. The royal couple then followed 
the Archbishop and the nineteen bishops who were 
present, to the high altar where Mass was cele- 
brated. Katharine^s train was borne by her hus- 
band^s aunt, the Princess Cecily, who was fol- 
lowed by one hundred ladies, richly dressed. 

After Mass a grand wedding breakfast was 
served in the bishop^s palace of St. PauFs Cathe- 
dral, at which the bridal pair were served on plates 
of gold, ornamented with precious stones. Then 
followed all the plays and tournaments and feast- 
ing, with which a royal wedding was celebrated in 
those days. To the credit of royalty be it said, 
that all the enjoyment was not reserved for them- 


I 


KATHARINE OF ARAGON. 


109 


selves only, for the people were allowed to be pres- 
ent at all these entertainments, platforms having 
been erected for their accommodation. 

One noble gentleman came mounted on a red 
dragon led by a giant with a large forest tree in his 
hand. Another had a great, green mountain 
carried over him, covered with trees and flowers 
and with all sorts of small animals creeping up the 
sides. Of course, the dragon and the mountain 
were made of a substance something like paper, 
but I presume they afforded great amusement to 
the audience. There was a tournament in which 
the nobles tilted with spears, breaking a great 
many lances on each other’s bodies, as an old 
historian writes, but no one appears to have been 
injured. 

^Vhen these celebrations were concluded, King 
Henry presented to the Spanish lords and ladies, 
costly gifts of gold and jewels, thanking them for 
the good care they had taken of his daughter-in- 

law. 

Poor Katharine had now to bid these faithful 
friends good-bye, for their mission of caring for 
her until after her marriage, was concluded, and 
they were upon the point of starting on their re- 
turn to Spain. King Henry, who noted his 
daughter-in-law’s sadness, invited her and her 
ladies to accompany him to his library where he 
showed them many curious and pleasant books, 


170 


KATHARINE OF ARAGON. 


both English and Latin, and where his prudent 
foresight had provided a jeweler with his wares, 
rich trinkets of every description, of which the 
king bade Katharine take her choice. What re- 
mained, he distributed among her ladies-in- 
waiting. 

It was the custom in England, at that time, for 
the king^s eldest son, the Prince of Wales, to hold 
his court at Ludlow in Wales. This court, though 
small, was modeled exactly on the English court 
at Westminster. To Wales accordingly went 
Katharine and her husband. Prince Arthur, as 
soon as the wedding festivities were concluded. 
The roads were so bad that the journey could not 
be performed in carriages, so Katharine rode on a 
pillion, or kind of saddle, behind her master of 
horse, while eleven ladies on horseback followed 
her. The journey must have been a hard one, 
but the royal couple reached Ludlow safely, where 
they were joyfully welcomed by the Welsh people, 
with whom they became very popular. 

A bright future seemed to be in store for them, 
but Katharine had not been destined for worldly 
happiness, and her sorrows began early indeed. 
When she had been scarcely two months in Wales, 
Prince Arthur fell ill of the plague, which raged 
at the time, and died, leaving her a widow in a 
strange land at the age of sixteen. Her mother- 
in-law, Queen Elizabeth of York, in her own grief 


KATHARINE OF ARAGON. 


171 


over the untimely death of her eldest and favorite 
child, did not forget the forlorn young widow. 
She had a litter of black velvet prepared, in which 
Katharine made the journey back to England, 
taking up her abode at the country palace of Croy- 
don, which was to be her home during her widow- 
hood. 

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel had paid 
only half of their daughter's marriage portion 
when the news of her husband^s death reached 
them. They then expressed a desire that she 
should come home to them and that her dower be 
returned. King Henry VII, who was very grasp- 
ing, disliked the idea extremely of parting with 
so much money, and he conceived the plan of ar- 
ranging a marriage between Katharine and her 
young brother-in-law, Henry, who was then only 
thirteen years old. Her parents consented, pro- 
vided a dispensation could be obtained from the 
Pope. Katharine herself was very unhappy, and 
naturally disliked the idea of becoming the wife 
of a boy so much younger than herself. She 
wrote to her father that she had no wish for a 
second marriage in England, but for him to act as 
seemed best to him, and not to consult her own 
wishes in the matter. 

There were certain reasons for the granting of 
the dispensation, and the pope accordingly gave 
his permission for the marriage of Katharine and 


172 


KATHARINE OF ARAGON. 


Henry, which took place about seven years after 
the death of Prince Arthur. Henry was nineteen 
at the time of the wedding, Katharine being 
twenty-four. 

Henry was already a king when he was married, 
having succeeded his father, who had died a short 
time before. He was a stout, handsome young 
man, good-humored, and with a certain heartiness 
of manner, which made him very popular with all 
classes. Burly King Harry ” they called him, 
and bluff King Hal ” and all of his subjects, 
high and low, liked the young king and promised 
themselves much happiness and prosperity during 
his reign. The ruling traits in his character 
seem to have been an inordinate selfishness and a 
stubbornness of will which prompted him to ob- 
tain what he desired, sacrificing, if need be, the 
rights and the happiness of others to attain his 
object. 

Katharine was crowned in Westminster, with 
great pomp, a few days after her marriage. It is 
reported that she looked extremely handsome in 
her beautiful white robes of embroidered satin 
with a jeweled crown resting on her dark hair. 

There were the usual festivities after the coro- 
nation, which were interrupted very soon by the 
death of the king’s grandmother, Margaret of 
Richmond, and by the outbreak of a great pesti- 
lence in London. The king and queen to escape 


KATHARINE OF ARAGON. 


173 


the danger of infection, went with the court to 
Richmond, a country place not far distant. Here 
the king amused himself in his usual childish 
fashion, with all kinds of games and sports. He 
would suddenly leave the queen, and return 
dressed as a Moor, or a Russian, or anything else 
that took his fancy, Katharine good-humoredly 
pretending great surprise when he appeared before 
her in these strange disguises. 

On Kew Yearns Day, 1511, a son was born to 
the king and queen, who was named Henry at his 
baptism, the Archbishop of Canterbury being one 
of his sponsors. The birth of the little heir was 
celebrated at Westminster with a grand ball, 
which was opened by a beautiful pageant. A num- 
ber of ladies appeared, seated in a large arbor, of 
which the pillars were covered with gold, and all 
entwined with hundreds of silk and satin roses 
and hawthorn blossoms. The ladies’ dresses were 
covered with the letters H ” and K,” the 
initials of the king and queen, made of pure gold. 

Kow, as I have told you, every one was allowed 
to be present at these royal frolics, and, naturally 
there was an immense crowd, a mob indeed, gath- 
ered at the lower end of the hall to see this fine 
show. The golden arbor, after the ladies left it, 
had been rolled back within the reach of these 
spectators. This was too much of a temptation, 
and they promptly fell to work, and before the 


174 


KATHARINE OF ARAGON. 


court officers could interfere, had stripped the pil- 
lars bare of all the gold and flowers. Emboldened 
by this success, they then turned their attention to 
the noble actors in the scene, not sparing even the 
king himself, who was despoiled of all the golden 
ornaments adorning his rich costume. An old 
chronicle states that a certain sea captain, who 
was present at this ball, obtained for his share of 
the spoils, letters of beaten gold, which he after- 
words sold for £3, or about fifteen dollars of our 
money. 

This incident will serve to show you the curious 
state of society at that time. 

Henry took it all very good-naturedly, and as 
every one at court was supposed to do exactly as 
the king did, I presume the noble lords and ladies 
laughed and , pretended to be amused, although 
probably inwardly much vexed at the loss of their 
jewelry. 

These uproarious celebrations came quickly and 
sadly to an end. On the twenty-second of Febru- 
ary, the little prince Henry died, being less than 
two months old. His death is chronicled in one of 
the old records of Westminster Abbey, and reads 
this way : In the second year of our Lord, the 

King, there was born to him and to her Grace, the 
Queen, a son, whose soul is now among the Holy 
Innocents of God.’^ 

Poor Queen Katharine was overwhelmed with 


KATHARINE OF ARAGON. 


175 


grief, but she tried, like the brave woman that she 
was, to overcome her sorrow, and to fulfill bravely 
all the duties of her station in life. 

Soon after the death of the little prince, war 
broke out with France, and King Henry led the 
invasion into that country in person. He em- 
barked, with his troops at Dover, where Katharine 
parted from him very affectionately and sadly. 

The king made her regent of the kingdom dur- 
ing his absence, intrusting her with higher powers 
than had ever been given to a woman regent in 
England. Besides placing the government of the 
country entirely in her hands, he made her captain 
of his troops, and empowered her to borrow money, 
if the necessity should arise, while he was in 
France. 

This confidence of the king in his wife^s discre- 
tion and judgment, proves the character of 
Katharine to have been one of ability and sterling 
worth. 

Before the king’s return, war was declared be- 
tween England and Scotland, in which the Eng- 
lish were victorious, the Scottish monarch, tPames 
IV, dying on the battle-field of Flodden. 

The war in France was of short duration, and 
after winning the battle of Guinegate, King Henry 
sailed for home. He landed at Dover, and rode 
on to surprise the queen at Kichmond, where there 
was an affectionate meeting between them. King 


176 KATHARINE OF ARAGON. 

Henryks conduct had not been above reproach in 
France, but Katharine, with her customary kind- 
ness and charity overlooked this, and the royal 
pair seem to have been very happy for a time, 
joining in all kinds of merry-making and 
festivals. 

Peace having been declared between the French 
and English, a marriage was arranged between 
King Henryks sister, Mary, and the French mon- 
arch Louis XII. Mary disliked this match which 
had been made for her, and departed sadly on her 
journey to France, taking an affectionate leave of 
her good sister-in-law. Queen Katharine. 

Among the Princess Mary’s ladies-in-waiting, 
who accompanied her to France, was a beautiful 
young girl, Anne Boleyn. Kemember her name 
, well, for you will learn more about her before this 
story is finished. 

In the following Kovember, another little prince 
was bom, who died when he was but a few days 
. old, to the great sorrow and disappointment of poor 
Katharine. 

Xow happened an event, which, though seem- 
ing to have but little connection with Katharine, 
was probably the cause of all her future misery. 
The French King, Louis XII, who had married 
Henry’s sister Mary, died less than three months 
after the wedding. Mary had never liked the 
idea of this marriage, and she remained a widow 


KATHARINE OF ARAGON. 


177 


but a very short time, entering into a second mar- 
riage with the Duke of Suffolk, whom she had 
known before she became the wife of Louis. 
Mary then accompanied her new husband to Eng- 
land, and with her came her ladies-in-waiting, 
among them Anne Boleyn. 

On February 18, 1516, the Queen’s only daugh- 
ter was born. This child, the only one of Katha- 
rine’s children who lived past infancy, was named 
Mary for her aunt, the Duchess of Suffolk. She 
afterwards occupied the throne of England. When 
Mary was less than two years old, a third son was 
born to her parents, who lived only one day. The 
loss of all their sons, was a great sorrow to Henry 
and Katharine, who were very desirous of an 
heir to succeed them on the throne. Katharine’s 
grief, after the loss of her last son, was increased 
by the fact that the king began to treat her with 
cold neglect. She was thirty-nine years old at 
this time. King Henry about thirty-four. Her 
health was very delicate, in fact, for three years 
she was so ill that her life was at times de- 
spaired of. 

In the meantime, the king’s foolish fancy had 
been captivated by the young maid-of-honor, Anne 
Boleyn, who had returned with his sister from 
France. 

She became one of Queen Katharine’s ladies- 
in-waiting, and was always treated by her with 
12 


178 


KATHARINE OF ARAGON. 


the utmost limit of Christian charity and for- 
bearance. 

To make a long story short, King Henry wished 
to marry Anne Boleyn, and in order to rid him- 
self of poor Queen Katharine, he pretended, hav- 
ing been married to her for sixteen years, to be 
suddenly much troubled in his conscience because 
she had been his brother's wife, and he accord- 
ingly set about getting a divorce from her so that 
he could make Anne Boleyn his wife. 

He appealed to Borne, but the pope refused to 
consider any such scheme, and said that as Henry 
was lawfully married to Queen Katharine, he 
could not marry again while she lived, under 
penalty of excommunication. 

Matters dragged on for some time without any 
decisive step being taken by the king, who now 
treated Katharine with the utmost injustice and 
cruelty. He even sent to intercept a letter she had 
written, asking advice and help in the trouble 
which had come upon her, of her nephew, the 
Emperor Charles V of Spain. 

The king pretended to hold a court in London, 
before which his case was tried and where the 
poor Queen made a piteous appeal to him for 
justice, calling herself a friendless stranger in a 
foreign land. All this was of no avail, however, 
and when Henry found out that there was no hope 
of obtaining the pope^s sanction to his divorce, 


KATHARINE OF ARAGON. 


179 


he renounced the Catholic Church and influenced 
Parliament to pass an act, called the Act of 
Supremacy,” which declared the king to be the 

Only Supreme Head of the Church in Eng- 
land.” Thus was founded the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church, whose present head is King Edward 
VII of England. 

The pope had written privately to Henry before 
he took this fatal step, commanding him to give 
up all idea of divorcing Queen Katharine, but 
when the king renounced allegiance to the True 
Church, sentence of excommunication was pro- 
nounced against him. 

How began a reign of terror in England. The 
good monks, who for hundreds of years had been 
the benefactors of the people, ministering to their 
spiritual and temporal wants, were forced to 
abandon their monasteries and lands, which were 
given to King Henryks followers. It was treason, 
punishable by death, to deny the Act of Suprem- 
acy,” and, as Catholics were liable to be asked 
their opinion of this at any time, many brave souls 
suffered martyrdom rather than betray their holy 
Eaith. 

Henryks marriage to Anne Boleyn had been 
privately performed some time before, and Katha- 
rine was banished from court, taking up her abode 
at Buckden Castle, near Huntingdon, a few faith- 
ful friends following her to share her exile. 


180 


KATHARINE OF ARAGON. 


Katharine^s father, King Ferdinand, was dead, 
her daughter, the Princess Marj, bj the King^s 
command, was separated from her, and now, her 
faithful confessor. Father John Forrest, was 
thrown into prison, where he languished for two 
years before suffering a martyr’s death. 

The Queen’s room at Buckden had a window 
opening into the chapel, and it is said that in the 
morning the stone sill was so wet with the tears 
she had shed, while praying during the night, that 
her attendants thought at first that a shower of 
rain had fallen upon it. 

King Henry now began a persecution of Katha- 
rine’s two confessors. Fathers Forrest and Abell, 
in the hope of extorting from them something the 
Queen might have confessed which would make 
his divorce more valid. Ko priest has ever been 
known to violate the secrecy of the confessional, 
and these two faithful servants of God suffered 
a horrible martyrdom in the performance of their 
duty. 

Katharine, being now upon her death-bed, re- 
quested as a last favor that she be allowed to see 
her little daughter. King Henry, with incredible 
cruelty, refused his permission. She had pre- 
viously removed from Buckden to Kimbolton 
Castle, and here she died, January 7, 1536, having 
received the Last Sacraments with great piety and 
fervor. 


KATHARINE OF ARAGON. 


181 


When word of Katharine^s death was brought 
to Anne Bolejn, she was washing her hands in a 
costly basin, which she gave to the messenger in 
gratitude for his welcome tidings, exclaiming, 

N'ow I am indeed a queen.’’ The king ordered 
that the court go into mourning, but Anne dressed 
herself and her ladies in bright yellow, to show 
the joy she felt over her rival’s death. 

The character of Katharine of Aragon is one 
of the most noble and lovely in history. She 
neglected none of the difficult duties of her exalted 
station in life. She was a dutiful daughter, an 
exemplary wife, a fond mother, a noble queen. 
Although not disdaining the amusements of her 
station in life, she devoted the greater part of her 
time to duties of a serious nature. It was her 
custom always to rise at night to pray. She fasted 
twice a week and received Holy Communion every 
Sunday. Dress and frivolity were not to her 
taste, and she was once heard to say that that part 
of her time spent in dressing and adorning herself 
she considered entirely wasted. 

Her treatment of Anne Boleyn is perhaps the 
most conspicuous example of her saintly virtue. 
Some time previous to her death, one of her at- 
tendants began a conversation about Anne, in the 
course of which she reviled her as the cause of all 
of Katharine’s troubles. The Queen, who was 
weeping bitterly, dried her eyes and rebuked the 


182 


KATHARINE OF ARAGON. 


speaker, saying, revile her not, but rather pray 
for her, for even now is the time fast coming when 
she will need your pity.” This prophecy was 
singularly fulfilled in a few short years, when 
Anne Boleyn suffered death upon the scaffold, to 
make way for her own waiting-woman, Jane Sey- 
mour, to whom King Henry had transferred his 
affection. 

Katharine of Aragon commanded the admira- 
tion and respect of even her enemies, not one of 
whom ever dared to calumniate her. Her friends 
loved her for her goodness and her benevolent un- 
selfishness, and all posterity must admire her for 
those many beautiful virtues which shine forth 
so brightly in the darkness of her sorrowful life. 


MAEY QUEElSr OE SCOTS. 


Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown 
says the poet, and to no sovereign in history can 
this be applied with more truth, than to the un- 
bappy queen whose tragic story I am now going 
to relate to you. 

Mary Stuart was bom in the palace of Linlith- 
gow, near Edinburgh, December 8, 1542. Her 
father. King James V, had led his army against 
the English, whose king, Henry VIII, had wished, 
for a long time to conquer Scotland and annex it 
to his dominions. With this end in view, he was 
constantly making war on the Scotch, and, shortly 
before Mary’s birth, a battle was fought at Solway 
Moss, during the course of which the Scottish 
king received a mortal wound. There was barely 
time to inform the dying monarch of his little 
daughter’s entrance into the world, before he 
took his departure from it. He had ardently 
wished for a son to succeed him, and was greatly 
disappointed that the infant was a girl. Turning 
his face to the wall he said, The kingdom came 
183 


184 


MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 


in with a lass, and it will go out with a lass,” 
predicting that his child would be the last sov- 
ereign to reign exclusively over Scotland. This 
proved true, for Mary’s successor on the Scottish 
throne became king of England also, and from 
that time, Scotland has been under the dominion 
of the English monarchs. 

Mary Stuart was a near relative of the king of 
England, whose only son, Edward, had been de- 
clared his father’s heir to the throne. Edward 
was the son of Henry’s third wife, Jane Seymour, 
whose marriage many Englishmen considered 
invalid. In that case, the rightful heir was Mary, 
the daughter of Henry’s first wife, Katharine of 
Aragon. Our little Scottish Mary stood next in 
line of succession to her English cousin of the 
same name, and her nearness to the English 
throne, as w^ell as Henry’s desire to obtain con- 
trol over Scotland, prompted him to beg Mary’s 
hand in marriage for his son. Prince Edward. 
How, the young English prince was a Protestant, 
while Mary’s mother, Mary of Guise, was a Cath- 
olic and a Frenchwoman. She and a large portion 
of the Scottish nobles, determined that the pro- 
posed marriage should not take place. This 
thwarting of his carefully laid plan made the 
English king furious, and he promptly declared 
war against Scotland. 

In the disturbed state of the country, it was 


MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 


185 


deemed best to send Mary away, for a time. The 
French king who had come to the assistance of the 
Scotch, in their war with England, invited the 
little queen to visit his dominions, and proposed 
a marriage between her and his son Francis, as 
soon as she should arrive at a suitable age. Ac- 
cordingly, Mary and her attendants, among whom 
were four little girls, each named Mary, left their 
turbulent country, and landed, after a stormy 
voyage, in France. The little five-year-old queen 
was received with "great ceremony and conducted 
to the king’s palace of St. Germain, which was to 
be her home until she was sent to a convent to 
be educated. 

While still quite young, Mary displayed great 
aptitude for learning. She was a good Latin 
scholar, and wrote very fair verses before she was 
grown. She loved the convent and the good 
French nuns who had charge of her education, and 
after a few years spent at school, Mary formed the 
design of becoming a nun herself. Of course, the 
French king refused to sanction this plan, and he 
took her from the convent and surrounded her 
with all the gayety and splendor of the court. 

Mary was then about fourteen years of age, and 
possessed such great beauty, that, one day when 
she was bearing a candle in a religious procession, 
a peasant woman asked if she were not an angel. 
Shortly after Mary’s arrival at court, prepara- 


186 


MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 


tions were begun for her marriage to the French 
dauphin, an amiable, delicate youth, about six- 
teen years of age. The nuptials were celebrated 
with all possible pomp, in the great church of 
Notre Dame, in Paris. Mary wore a splendid 
bridal toilet of white satin, embroidered in silver 
lilies, and glittering with diamonds. After the 
conclusion of the wedding festivities, the young 
couple retired to a palace in the country, near 
Paris, where they lived very happily, as they 
were much attached to one another. When Mary 
had been married about a year, the wedding of 
her sister-in-law was celebrated in Paris, with a 
grand tournament, at which the royal family and^ 
the court, were present. The nobles tilted, and 
at the close of the contest, Mary^s father-in-law 
saw two lances which remained unbroken. Being 
splendidly mounted on a fine war-horse, the idea 
occurred to him to enter the list himself and 
challenge one of the knights present, to combat. 
His wife, realizing the danger attending such 
sport, begged him to desist, but he insisted that 
one of the knights should enter the lists with him. 
As no one had the hardihood to accept the king’s 
challenge, he finally rode up to an officer named 
Montgomery, and commanded him to tilt. Very 
reluctantly the knight, holding the lance, took 
his position facing the king. Then the two com- 
batants rode towards one another, aiming their 


MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 


187 


lances. That of the king did no injury, but Mont- 
gomery’s struck his royal opponent’s helmet, 
which it penetrated, inflicting a wound above the 
eye. So quickly had this occurred, that no one 
knew that the king had been injured, until he was 
observed to reel in his saddle. He was assisted 
from his horse, all the gay company crowding 
around him, in the utmost consternation and 
alarm. He insisted that his wound was of no 
consequence, but took to his bed and died in eleven 
days. 

The throne then passed to Mary’s husband, and 
she became queen of France, as well as queen of 
Scotland. The young king, Francis, exhibited 
much discretion and prudence in managing the 
affairs of the government. He was very fond of 
his wife, and they were perfectly happy together, 
a fact which rendered the more pitiful his un- 
timely death at the age of eighteen. Mary then 
lost her rank and station as queen of France. The 
disconsolate young widow retired to a convent, 
but was not allowed to remain long in that peace- 
ful retreat. Her mother, who had been regent of 
Scotland, died, and the leading nobles of the 
country considered their queen’s presence neces- 
sary to the welfare of her subjects. Poor Mary 
dreaded the return to her native land, which she 
had left when little more than an infant. She 
loved France, and the French people returned her 


188 


MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 


affection. La reine blanche/^ they called her, 
or the white queen, because she wore white, which 
was mourning for royal French widows of the 
period. 

After delaying her departure as long as possi- 
ble, Mary embarked, one sad day, for Scotland. 
Her love for her adopted country is touchingly 
depicted in a little French poem written on this 
voyage. Here is a translation of it:_ 

ADIEU. 

Adieu, thou pleasant land of France, 

The dearest of all lands to me. 

Where life was like a joyful dance 
The happy dance of infancy. 

Farewell, my childhood’s laughing wiles, 

_ Farewell the joys of youth’s bright day, 

The bark that takes me from thy smiles, 

Bears but my meaner half away. 

The best is thine, my changeless heart 
Is given, beloved France, to thee. 

And let it sometimes, though we part. 

Remind thee, with a sigh, of me. 

Mary’s arrival in Scotland was a gloomy one. 
Holyrood Palace, her place of residence, was not 
ready for occupancy, and there was some delay 
before it could be placed in order for her. The 
shrill music of the Scottish bagpipes made her 


MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 


189 


head ache, and the rough manners of her subjects 
contrasted unpleasantly with the refinement of 
the French people. Protestantism had many ad- 
herents who put forth every effort to prevent the 
practice of the Catholic religion in Scotland. The 
first Sunday after Mary’s arrival, while she was 
assisting at Mass in her private chapel, an armed 
body of Protestants gathered about the entrance, 
threatening the priest with death, and so fright- 
ening the queen’s French attendants, that they 
could not be prevailed upon to remain any longer 
in Scotland. Among the Scotch Protestant minis- 
ters was a very stern, hard man, John Knox. He 
hated the Catholics intensely, and, in his efforts 
to convert the queen, treated her so rudely, that, 
upon one occasion, Mary was discovered weeping 
bitterly after he had left her presence. 

The Scottish people were anxious that their 
queen should marry, and were so importunate 
that she finally consented to an alliance with a 
nobleman of Scotch extraction, living in England. 
Mary rather liked Lord Darnley, at first, but, 
not long after their marriage, he began to show 
his character in its true colors. He was mean, 
selfish, and possessed inordinate ambition. Mary 
bestowed upon him every honor in her power to 
grant, but he was not satisfied, and insisted that 
he was entitled to certain powers and prerogatives 
which had been withheld from him. He soon be- 


190 MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 

gan to show his dissatisfaction by ill-treating his 
wife. The queen had an Italian secretary, a 
young man named Rizzio, for whom Damley con- 
ceived a dislike, which many of the courtiers 
shared with him. They considered that Rizzio 
had too much influence over the queen, and as they 
had no love for foreigners, anyway, they deter- 
mined to murder him. A fierce and unscrupulous 
nobleman, Lord Ruthven, consented to commit 
the dreadful deed. One evening, while the queen 
was at supper in her apartments, with some of 
the members of her household, among them the 
unfortunate secretary, the door was suddenly 
thrown open, and Ruthven entered with a band of 
armed men. The assassins declared that they in- 
tended no harm to the queen, but demanded Riz- 
zio, who stood near her. Mary attempted to re- 
monstrate with the intruders, but, without heed- 
ing her, they rushed upon the defenceless man and 
wounded him with a dagger. They then dragged 
their victim from the room and stabbed him re- 
peatedly until he was dead. The queen had 
fainted during this frightful scene, and when she 
recovered consciousness, reproached Darnley bit- 
terly for his share in the crime. Far from wish- 
ing to make amends, however, her cruel husband 
caused her to be detained for a few days, a pris- 
oner in her own palace. Then he released her and 
a sort of reconciliation took place between them. 


MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 


191 


Mary removed her residence from Holyrood 
Palace to the castle of Edinburgh where occurred 
the birth of her son James, June 19, 1566. This 
child afterwards reigned^ as James VI of Scotland 
and I of England. The birth of the little prince 
brought some brightness into his mother^s un- 
happy life. She was very proud and fond of him, 
as was his father also, although Darnley^s affec- 
tion for his little son did not prompt him to treat 
poor Mary with anything but cruelty. Among 
the powerful nobles who took part in the quarrels 
and petty wars of the period in Scotland, was a 
certain peer, the Earl of Bothwell. He was a 
bold, unscrupulous man, passionate, wilful, and 
possessed of great ambition. Knowing of the 
unhappy lack of harmony between Mary and her 
husband, and being an enemy of Darnley, he con- 
ceived the plan of killing him, and marrying the 
queen himself. Mary has been accused of conniv- 
ing with Bothwell, in this project, but the most 
unbiased and reliable historians are of the opin- 
ion that she was, from first to last, en- 
tirely ignorant of the plot against her husband^s 
life. 

Mary was very unhappy. She wandered, rest- 
less and sad, from one castle to another, while 
Damley amused himself in the chase, or indulged 
in other less innocent pastimes. She was in Glas- 
gow when the news reached her of Darnley^s 


192 


MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 


having been stricken with a serious illness. The 
malady proved to be smallpox, but Mary, forget- 
ting all her sufferings at his hands, went, at once, 
to assist in nursing the invalid. To avoid spread- 
ing the contagion, the patient was lodged in a 
small house, called the Kirk-o-field, situated in 
the suburbs of Edinburgh. On the night of Feb- 
ruary 9, 15()7, Mary and a few attendants were 
with Darnley, who was then convalescent, until 
eleven o^clock. The queen then reminded her 
husband of a promise she had made two of her 
servants, to be present at their wedding which had 
taken place that evening in Edinburgh. She 
announced her intention of spending an hour with 
the bridal pair, and took her departure with a 
few attendants, leaving Darnley and one servant 
in the house. A few hours later, the city of Edin- 
burgh was shaken by a tremendous explosion. The 
terrified inhabitants discovered that the Kirk-o- 
field had been blown up with gunpowder. Darn- 
ley and his servant were found, quite dead, the 
force of the explosion having hurled their bodies 
some distance from the house. The queen, who 
was overwhelmed with indignation and horror, 
offered a large reward for the capture of the 
guilty persons. Bothwell was accused and tried 
for the crime, but there was not sufficient evi- 
dence against him, and he was found innocent. 

Some time after these tragic events, Mary was 


MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 


193 


journeying from Stirling Castle to Edinburgh, 
accompanied by a small escort. At a wild and 
lonely spot, she was met by Bothwell and five 
hundred armed men, who had lain in wait for her. 
They easily overpowered her few attendants, cap- 
tured the terrified queen, and took her to Both- 
welTs castle of Dunbar. There the powerful earl, 
partly by means of threats, partly by entreaties, 
prevailed upon his poor, distracted prisoner to 
become his wife. He represented to her that the 
leading nobles of Scotland desired the marriage, 
and displayed a paper signed by them to that 
effect. As no one came to Mary^s rescue, she 
finally consented to the marriage, which was per- 
formed very quietly in Edinburgh. 

Naturally, the Scottish people objected very 
strongly to this alliance of their queen and Both- 
well. Two contending parties were speedily 
formed, with Mary and Bothwell at the head of 
one, and some of the nobles representing the 
people, on the other side. The latter faction 
wished to depose the queen, and to declare her 
little son ruler of Scotland in her place. The two 
opposing forces, met, and were preparing for a 
battle, when Mary sent a message to her oppo- 
nents, implored them to refrain from bloodshed, 
and offering to negotiate with them in person. 
Their answer was not very clear as to whether 
they would consider the queen as their sovereign 
13 


194 


MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 


or their captive, if she should hold a conference 
with them. ^Nevertheless, Mary, distracted with 
grief and apprehension, went to the hostile camp. 
The leaders received her with a semblance of 
courtesy and loyalty, and proceeded to escort her, 
as she supposed, to Edinburgh. When they drew 
near the city, however, they pursued a road lead- 
ing away from it, to the northward, in spite of the 
queen^s frantic entreaties. She did not guess 
where they were conducting her, until they ar- 
rived at Loch Leven, a lake with a dreary castle, 
or rather fortress, rising out of its dark waters. 
There she was kept a close prisoner. 

In the meantime Bothwell had made his escape 
to the shore of the INorth Sea, where he embarked 
for Denmark. He became a pirate and was guilty 
of many crimes, the accounts of which reached 
Scotland from time to time. Bothwell finally 
became insane and died miserably in a Danish 
prison. 

Poor Mary spent more than a year in her deso- 
late prison. Loch Leven Castle. The nobles forced 
her to sign a paper abdicating the throne in favor 
of her son, an infant not yet two years of age. 
The little James was crowned King of Scotland, 
and his mother would, in all probability, have 
ended her life in Loch Leven Castle, if friends had 
not come to her assistance. These friends were 
none other than the young sons of Lady Douglas, 


MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 


195 


who was the queen^s jailer, so to speak, and was 
called the Lady of Loch Leven. 

One unsuccessful attempt at escape was made, 
after which the royal captive was closely watched. 
Edward Douglas finally possessed himself of the 
key to the castle door, and in the silence and dark- 
ness of midnight, the queen stepped into a boat 
which had been moored outside the walls of her 
prison, and was rowed ashore. She was met by 
a hand of loyal subjects between whom and Mary^s 
enemies a battle took place on the day following 
'her liberation. The queen’s forces suffered a total 
defeat, and Mary, despairing of protection in 
Scotland, determined on a bold step. She resolved 
to go to England, and to throw herself upon the 
charity of her cousin. Queen Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and 
his second wife, Anne Boleyn, and her right to 
the throne was questioned by many of her sub- 
jects, because they considered her parents’ mar- 
riage illegal. If Elizabeth had really no right to 
the throne of England, then it belonged to Mary, 
who was the grand-daughter of an aunt of Henry 
VIII. Elizabeth feared Mary’s influence, and 
hated exceedingly to have her in England. While 
pretending to receive the Scottish queen as a guest, 
she had her confined as close a prisoner as she 
had been at Loch Leven, and poor Mary had only 
exchanged one captivity for another. 


196 MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 

Eighteen weary years did the unfortunate 
queen of Scotland spend in her English prison. 
Several attempts had been made to liberate her, 
but all proved futile. The last one had the ap- 
pearance of Mary^s connivance, and she was 
accordingly accused of high treason, and brought 
to Eotheringay Castle for trial. Mary urged 
that she was not a subject, but a queen in her own 
right, and could not, therefore, be legally tried in 
England. 'No heed was paid to her remonstrance, 
however, and the trial proceeded. Mary was 
pronounced guilty of treason, an offence panish- 
able with death. Queen Elizabeth pretended to 
be much disturbed over the result of the trial, and 
laid the matter before parliament, which con- 
firmed the verdict against the Queen of Scotland. 
The death-warrant was prepared for Elizabeth 
to sign, but the crafty Queen of England wished 
to shift the blame for Mary^s death upon parlia- 
ment, and she sent a’ message to the condemned 
prisoner, declaring that she would make every 
effort to save her life. Mary answered, that, in 
saving her life, the Queen of England would con- 
fer no favor on one who was weary of living and 
who would welcome death with joy. After mak- 
ing a few last requests, she signed her letter your 
affectionate cousin and prisoner, Mary, Queen of 
Scots.^^ 

Mary’s son made some efforts to stay the execu- 


MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 


197 


tion of her sentence, but without success. On the 
evening of February 7, 1587, after Mary had re- 
tired, she was informed that some gentlemen 
wished to speak with her. She rose and dressed 
herself to receive her guests, who proved to be a 
commission appointed by Elizabeth to read the 
death-warrant, and to be present at the execution. 
After hearing the warrant, Mary replied with 
dignified calmness that she welcomed her guests 
as the bearers of good tidings, because she regarded 
her approaching death as a joyful release from all 
her sorrows and trials. The commissioners then 
informed her that the time of the execution had 
been fixed for the following morning at eight 
o’clock. The condemned queen begged that a 
Catholic priest be allowed to visit her, in order 
that she might prepare properly for death. Even 
this last consolation was denied her, the commis- 
sioners proposing to send the dean of Peterbor- 
ough, an Episcopalian clergyman, to minister to 
Mary in her last hours. JSTaturally, she refused 
the offices of a Protestant minister and persisted 
in her request to see a priest, a request which, 
strange as it may seem, was cruelly refused. The 
condemned prisoner spent the greater part of the 
night making her will, and writing letters of 
farewell to her relatives in France and Scotland. 

In the morning, having risen and performed 
her devotions with great fervor, Mary took a 


198 


MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 


solemn leave of her attendants, whose sobs and 
cries resounded through the castle. She walked, 
with a firm step, to the place of execution, a large 
hall of the castle, where a scaffold had been 
erected. After kneeling a few moments in prayer, 
with a crucifix clasped in her folded hands, Mary 
rose and addressed the commissioners. She as- 
sured them of her full forgiveness of Queen Eliza- 
beth and all her enemies and declared herself a 
faithful Catholic. 

I will spare you the harrowing details of the 
execution. After the ghastly deed was accom- 
plished, one of the witnesses held up the severed 
head saying, Thus perish all Queen Elizabeth’s 
enemies,” but no one answered him. 

Mary’s body was first interred at Peterbor- 
ough, near Fotheringay Castle, where her ex- 
ecution had taken place. After her son became 
King of England, he caused his mother’s remains 
to be removed to Westminster Abbey, where a 
magnificent monument was erected to her memory. 

The sad career of Mary, Queen of Scots, enlists 
our sympathy, and, while we cannot approve of 
some of her actions, we must remember, in ex- 
tenuation of her faults, the unusual and tragic 
circumstances that ordered her ill-starred life. 
She possessed noble qualities of mind and heart, 
and, under different conditions, would have been 
a happy wife and mother, and a beloved queen. 


SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIISr. 

The little French sea-port of Brouage, on the 
Bay of Biscay, was the birth-place, in the year 
1567, of the hero of my story. Samuel de Cham- 
plain entered the marine service, while still a 
very young man, and rising rapidly soon became 
a captain in the royal navy. He took part in a 
war conducted by King Henry IV of France, 
against a rebellious noble in Brittany, and so 
distinguished himself, that the king granted him 
a pension, and expressed a desire to retain him 
permanently at court. But the restless spirit of 
the soldier soon wearied of the monotony of this 
new mode of life, and the young captain begged 
the king^s permission to visit the West Indies, 
then in control of the Spaniards, who desired to 
exclude all foreigners. In fact, a Frenchman who 
lauded on those islands, took his life in his hands. 
The danger only rendered the voyage more attrac 
tive to Champlain, who spent two years visiting 
the principal parts of the West Indies, as well 
as Panama and Mexico. At Dieppe, in France, 
199 


200 


SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN. 


there is still preserved, a curious old manuscript, 
the journal kept by Champlain on this voyage. 
It contains sixty-one quaint drawings of Indians, 
birds, beasts and fish, seen by him on his travels. 

Returning to France, he took his old position 
at court, which he had formally found so tire- 
some. There he formed a friendship with a man 
who, like himself, stood high in the royal favor. 
The name of this new friend was Aymar de 
Chastes. He had rendered important services to 
the king, and was, at that time, governor of 
Dieppe. Although somewhat advanced in years, 
he had formed the project, (being a man of great 
piety) of converting the Indians and establishing 
a colony in Hew France, as that portion of the 
Hew World was called, which belonged to France. 
Champlain, just returned from the West Indies, 
young, hardy and courageous, seemed to De 
Chastes, to be perfectly qualified to accompany 
his expedition to Hew France. Champlain was 
delighted with the opportunity of making an- 
other voyage of adventure, and readily consented 
to become one of De Chastes^ little company. 
The vessel bearing the brave pioneers, sailed from 
Honfleurs, and crossing the Atlantic safely, pro- 
ceeded up the beautiful St. Lawrence River. 
Soon after the arrival of Champlain in Hew 
France, the good and pious De Chastes died, and, 
an officer of -'the king’s household, named De 


SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN. 


201 


Monts, succeeded him as lieutenant-general of the 
proposed colony. De Monts sailed from Havre de 
Grace, April 7, 1607, having arranged for a sec- 
ond ship, loaded with provisions for the colonists, 
to follow in a few days. This vessel cast anchor 
in a harbor on the southern coast of Nova Scotia, 
to which the sailors gave the name of Port Mou- 
ton, because a sheep jumped overboard into the 
sea at that place. 

When De Monts’ little party had anxiously 
waited an entire month for the store-ship, it 
finally arrived, and the two vessels, well stocked 
with pro\dsions and supplies of all kinds, pur- 
sued their way around the southern coast of Nova 
Scotia, then northward to Newfoundland, anchor- 
ing in St. Mary’s Bay. 

One day, a small company went ashore for a 
stroll in the forest, whose green shade looked 
very inviting to the ship-weary travelers. Among 
them was a young French priest, Nicholas Aubry. 
After walking some distance into the depths of 
the forest, he stopped to drink at a brook, placing 
his sword beside him on the grass, while he bent 
over the little stream. In his hurry to rejoin his 
companions, he forgot his weapon, and, when he 
discovered his loss, started back to find it. 
Ignorant of wood-craft, he became bewildered, 
lost his way, and was unable to find his com- 
rades. He walked aimlessly about, in the wood. 


202 


SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN. 


shouting, but receiving no answer. He had wan- 
dered out of earshot of the ship, and even failed 
to hear a cannon fired on board, to guide him. 
De Monts finally sailed away, thinking that the 
young priest had perished in the forest. The 
vessel landed at the mouth of the St. Croix River, 
where it was decided to fix the site of the colony, 
and a fort and other buildings were at once begun. 
After settling at St. Croix, Champlain sent sev- 
eral of the vessel’s crew back to St. Mary’s Bay, 
because he thought that traces of silver had been 
found by the ill-fated party who landed the day 
Nicholas Aubry was lost. As the vessel rode at 
anchor, one day while the crew fished, they heard, 
from the direction of the shore, a sound like a 
feeble human voice. Looking towards the place 
whence the sound came, they saw a small black 
object moving, as if someone were waving a hat 
on the end of a stick. Hastily they rowed ashore, 
and found the companion they had given up for 
lost two weeks before. Nicholas Aubry had wan- 
dered through the wilderness, eating only berries 
and roots, and was so emaciated that his former 
comrades recognized him with difficulty. 

In the meantime, every one was busy at the 
new settlement at St. Croix. Soon the little is- 
land was covered with buildings, protected against 
the Indians by a palisade. Champlain even laid 
out a garden, but nothing would grow in the stony 


SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN. 


203 


soil. A small rustic chapel built on the summit 
of a rocky hill, overlooked the new city. Soon 
the summer passed, and the bleak, northern win- 
ter swept down on St. Croix, surrounding the 
little island with great fields of ice. Cider and 
win-e froze solid, and were served in pieces by 
the pound. A dreadful disease, scurvy, broke out, 
and of the seventy-nine colonists, thirty-five died 
before the spring. Champlain, with his great 
courage, inspired the settlers, even in the midst 
of the sufferings of that terrible winter, and with 
the spring came health and hope to revive their 
drooping spirits. 

In the summer, Champlain set out on a further 
voyage of discovery, among the islands and bays 
of the coast of Maine. He pursued his course to 
the southward, past the Massachusetts coast, 
where he landed every fair day to visit the In- 
dians, whose queer pointed wigwams could be 
plainly seen from the vessel. At Cape Cod, a 
number of the ship’s crew landed to procure a 
supply of fresh water. An Indian snatched a 
kettle from one of the men, who started in pursuit 
of the thief. In an instant, a number of arrows 
shot through the air, and a sailor fell dead. The 
Frenchmen then opened fire, from their vessel, 
on the Indians, who escaped to the woods. Soon 
after this unhappy adventure, provisions failed 
the little company of explorers, and they were 


204 


SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN. 


compelled to return to St. Croix. Champlain had 
learned, from the sad experience of the past win- 
ter, that the situation of St. Croix was too exposed, 
and he determined to remove the settlement to 
a more sheltered site, across the Bay of Fundy, at 
the mouth of the River Annapolis, called by the 
French, the River Dauphin. Soon the dense forest 
was cleared away, and, for the second time, Cham- 
plain and his followers set to work to build a 
town in the wilderness. Two of the principal 
officers of the colony, De Monts and Pontrincourt 
returned to France to solicit financial aid for the 
new settlement, of which there was a pressing 
need, and to bring back priests to minister to the 
settlers as well as to labor for the conversion of 
the Indians. The envoys found a valuable ally 
in Marc Lescarbot, a pious man, possessed of 
much good sense and energy, who could not only 
help to build a colony, but could also write its 
history. It is to Lescarbot that we owe most of 
our knowledge of the affairs of New France. 
De Monts remained in France, while Lescarbot 
embarked for the New World in a ship bearing 
the unlucky name of Jonas. The Jonas bore him 
safely to the beautiful shore of New France, 
which, lit up by a golden July sun, smiled a wel- 
come to the brave little vessel. Sailing up Port 
Royal Basin, the travelers on the Jonas finally 
came in sight of the new settlement, which looked 


SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN. 


205 


attractive enough, with its background of huge 
forest-trees. Champlain and all the colonists 
welcomed Lescarbot and his companions with de- 
light, and wine was served in the courtyard to 
celebrate their safe arrival. 

Soon the newcomers learned what it was to be 
pioneers in the wilderness. They set out with 
Champlain in a small vessel, to continue the ex- 
ploration of the Massachusetts coast. Although 
the shore was thickly strewn with wigwams, five 
of the ship^s company disobeyed orders, and 
passed a night on shore. While they slept around 
their camp-fire, a large band of Indians attacked 
them, killing two of their number outright, and 
wounding the remaining three, who fled, panic- 
stricken, to their boat. Champlain was awakened 
by the terrified cries for help of the men on 
shore, he snatched his weapons, jumped into a 
boat, and with only eight men, rowed ashore and 
charged the furious Indians. The savages fled to 
the woods where they paused, and from a hill- 
top watched Champlain and his men bury their 
murdered companions. At that safe distance, 
they danced in glee and triumph, making mocking 
gestures towards the white men. The Indians 
afterwards dug up the dead bodies and burned 
them. 

This dreadful experience determined Cham- 
plain to abandon his idea of forming a colony in 


206 


SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN. 


that vicinity, and he, accordingly, returned to 
Port Royal. 

Among the colonists, Lescarhot, of whom I have 
already told you, was the most useful. He was 
gardener, mechanic, builder and soldier, to the 
entire settlement. He laid out, and cultivated 
with his own hands, a fine garden, the first in Hew 
France. All the priests had, unfortunately, died 
of scurvy, and, until others could be procured, 
he assembled the colonists regularly in the great 
hall of the settlement, where he read prayers. 
With Champlain’s assistance, he organized the 
settlers into a society, each member of which had 
to take his turn at supplying the meals for one 
day. There was a friendly rivalry among the 
amateur caterers, as to who could set forth the 
best fare, and consequently, the Frenchmen had 
an abundance of fish, wild fowl and game. At 
these meals, there were always present a number 
of Indian guests, who became friends and allies 
of the white men. 

It became necessary, at this time, to send a 
member of the new settlement to France, to at- 
tend to some important affairs of the colony, and 
Pontrincourt being selected for the mission, he 
bade farewell to Port Royal, and sailed for home. 
On his arrival in France, he secured the services 
of a pious and zealous priest. Father La Fleche, 
who accompanied him on his return to the New 


SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN. 


207 


World. The good priest lost no time in begin- 
ning his labors among the savages, and very soon 
an Indian chief named Membertou was baptized, 
together with his children, grand-children and all 
his tribe. It was an impressive sight — that band 
of savages kneeling to receive the sacred rite in 
the presence of the entire colony. When the last 
words of the baptismal service were spoken, the 
great audience joined in singing the Te Deum, 
whose solemn strains re-echoed through the ad- 
jacent forest. Membertou was called Henry, and 
one of his sons received the name of the pope. 
Very soon, so many Indians had followed Mem- 
bertou^s example, that the work of ministering to 
the spiritual needs of such a large number of con- 
verts, became too great a task for Father La 
Fleche. Through the efforts of a devout French 
lady, Madame de Guercheville, two Jesuits, 
Fathers Masse and Biard, were procured to aid 
in the difficult work of the Indian missions. They 
embarked for Hew France, reaching Port Koyal 
on the Feast of Pentecost. Taking up their new 
and arduous labors without delay, they went to 
share the hard life of the Indians in the forest, 
and at once set about learning the language of 
the savages. Father Masse soon composed a small, 
simple catechism, which he used with great suc- 
cess, in preparing them for baptism. Worn out 
with his unaccustomed labors and feeble in health, 


208 


SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN. 


the good priest was compelled, after a time, to 
return to Port Royal. He found the Indian chief, 
Membertou at the point of death. Father Biard 
administered the last sacraments to the dying 
convert, who was the first of his race in Hew 
France to be buried in consecrated ground. 

In the meantime, Champlain had returned to 
Paris, but the wilderness was too tempting to his 
adventurous spirit for him to remain long away 
from it. He embarked for Hew France, and sail- 
ing far up the noble St. Lawrence River, anchored 
before a steep, rocky promontory, the site of the 
present city of Quebec. It was not long before the 
axmen of the energetic Champlain had cleared 
a spot in the wilderness, and the first wooden 
houses of the new settlement were built. 

Champlain shared the popular belief, that, by 
going westward, he would discover a route to 
China. Accordingly, he set out, in the spring, 
with a few comrades, and several Indians of the 
Algonquin and Huron tribes, who acted as guides. 
The little party of explorers pursued their way to 
the west and south, now sailing down rivers, or 
across small lakes, then shouldering their canoes 
and walking in long procession through the dense 
undergrowth of the forest. As they were in con- 
stant danger of attack by hostile tribes of savages, 
they were compelled to hold themselves always in 
readiness for a fight. 


SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN. 209 

The actions of the Indian members of his little 
company, were a constant source of interest and 
amusement to Champlain. One evening, he ob- 
served an old Indian breaking sticks into various 
lengths and thrusting them into the ground. 
When he had carefully disposed them, according 
to a plan, he called the other Indians of the party, 
who came and gravely took note of the position 
of the sticks. Champlain learned that each stick 
represented a warrior, and the position each one 
was to take in the expected battle was thus plainly 
shown to him. Soon the little band reached the 
beautiful lake that now bears Champlain’s name. 
Passing from it into Lake George, Champlain 
expected to land at its southern end, and walk to 
the head waters of the Hudson Kiver, where the 
canoes could be launched for the long journey 
southward. The way was every day beset with 
greater perils. Champlain gave orders to march 
only at night, as the country of the Iroquois, a 
fierce and hostile tribe, had now been reached. 
One beautiful July evening, Champlain and his 
party rose from their beds of spruce boughs, and 
prepared to launch their canoes for a night’s 
journey. As they neared the lake, they saw some 
dark objects in motion on its placid surface. 
These proved to be the canoes of the Iroquois, and 
soon the air was filled with the frightful sound 
of their war-cry. Champlain lashed all his canoes 
14 


210 


SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN. 


together, while the other Frenchmen of the party 
buckled on the light armor in use at that period. 
They could see their foes advancing towards 
them, two hundred tall, strong men, the boldest 
and fiercest of the Indians. Champlain leveled 
his musket and fired. Two Iroquois fell dead, 
and instantly the darting arrows of their comrades 
flew thick through the forest, which resounded 
with the fierce cries of defiance and rage tl those 
savage warriors. The Iroquois stood firm until 
the Frenchmen fired a volley of musketry from 
a thicket, then they fled in terror, leaving Cham- 
plain and his comrades complete victors in the 
contest. I^ew France had met the cruel Iroquois, 
and conquered him for the time, but the crafty 
savage waited patiently for his revenge, and many 
wars took place before the white settlers of Can- 
ada finally vanquished the Iroquois. 

Shortly after these events, Champlain returned 
to Quebec, as he saw that to travel further in the 
Iroquois country was too dangerous to be at- 
tempted at that time. After he had rested from 
the fatigues of his journey, he set sail for France, 
and was received by the king at Fontainebleu. 
Champlain described the flourishing condition of 
the colony at Quebec, and the French monarch, 
encouraged by the account of affairs in Canada, 
directed that another city be at once founded in 
"New France. On Champlain^s return, he sailed 


SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN. 


211 


past Quebec, and landed at the junction of the St. 
Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers, where the founda- 
tion of Montreal was laid. Among the company 
whom Champlain brought with him from France, 
were four Franciscans, friars destined to accom- 
plish in the R'ew World great things for the glory 
of God and the salvation of souls. Their first 
care on landing, was to choose a suitable place for 
their monastery, then, erecting a rude altar of 
logs, they unpacked their vestments and altar- 
vessels, and one of them proceeded to say Mass. 
All the colonists assisted with grateful hearts at 
the holy sacrifice, at which, no doubt, fevent 
prayers were offered up for the success of the new 
city. 

Father Joseph Le Caron, one of the recently 
arrived Franciscans, chose the most difficult mis- 
sion — the conversion of the Hurons. He left 
the settlement of Montreal, to make his home with 
the savages in the wilderness, suffering many 
hardships, as you may guess from the following 
letter written by the young missionary to a friend 
in France. It would be hard to tell you,” he 
wrote, how tired I was, paddling all day with 
the Indians, wading through the rivers over sharp 
stones that cut my feet, or walking through the 
forest, with my canoe on my back to avoid the 
cataracts, and half starved all the time. But I 
must needs tell you what abundant consolation 


212 


SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN. 


I found in all my troubles, for, when one sees 
so many infidels needing nothing but a drop of 
water to make them children of God, he feels an 
inexpressible ardor to labor for their conversion, 
and to sacrifice to it his repose and his life.’^ 

Champlain was pursuing his explorations along 
the shore of Lake Huron, when he came upon an 
Indian village, and to his great surprise and joy, 
he saw Father Le Caron rushing out of a small 
bark wigwam to embrace him. It was a happy 
meeting. The next day, the priest celebrated Mass 
at his simple rustic altar, all the Frenchmen as- 
sisting and firing a volley from their guns at the 
elevation. This was the first Mass ever celebrated 
in the Huron country. 

The following winter, Champlain reluctantly 
abandoned his wanderings, and took up his res- 
idence in the infant city of Quebec, where affairs 
demanded his presence. His wife joined him and 
assisted the priests in instructing the Indian 
squaws and children. Being a lady of singular 
piety, she became an Ursuline nun, after the death 
of her husband, and died a holy death in the con- 
vent of her order which she had founded at 
Meaux. 

Champlain directed the affairs of Quebec with 
great energy and prudence, but the little colony 
suffered many vicissitudes. A band of Iroquois 
attacked it, and were with difficulty repulsed. 


SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN. 


213 


Famine, pestilence, and all the ills of a new set- 
tlement in the wilderness did the brave little city 
have to combat, but brighter days dawned, and 
before Champlain^s death, Quebec was in a flour- 
ishing condition. Many Indian missions were 
established, and every ship from France brought 
priests to labor among the constantly increasing 
number of Indian converts to the Faith. 

Christmas day, 1635, was a mournful one in- 
deed for Quebec. Champlain was dead. As he 
lay in state in the fort, Indians and priests, noble- 
men and soldiers, thronged to pay a last tribute to 
the precious memory of their brave leader. All 
followed him to the little church where Kequiem 
Mass was sung, and a eulogy pronounced by the 
Jesuit, Father Le Jeune. Champlain lived sixty- 
eight years, of which twenty-seven were spent 
laboring in the wilderness for l^ew France. In 
this brave and pious man were united all the vir- 
tues befitting the Catholic gentleman and soldier. 
His death was an irreparable loss to Quebec, and, 
a hundred years after he had been laid to rest, 
it was still the custom of the Huron Indians to 
extol the prudence, the bravery, and the virtues 
of the great French war-chief.” 


CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLTOH, 


Charles Carroll, famous in the history of our 
country as one of the signers of the Declaration 
of Independence, was born at Annapolis, Md., 
September 19, 1737. He was descended from the 
ancient Irish family of the Carrolls of Ely Car- 
roll, Kings County, Ireland, and also from several 
English families of antiquity and prominence. 
An English ancestress, Jane Lowe, married the 
third Lord Baltimore, son of the founder of the 
colony of Maryland. It would appear that the 
Carrolls were partial to their Irish ancestors, for 
they gave to their beautiful country-place an Irish 
name, Doughoregan Manor. 

At ten years of age, Charles entered the Jesuit 
college of Bohemia, in Maryland, together with 
his cousin John Carroll, afterwards Archbishop 
of Baltimore. Some years later, the two cousins 
were sent across the ocean, to pursue their studies 
at the celebrated college of St. Omer’s in French 
Flanders, where they remained six years. From 
St. Omer’s, Charles Carroll went to Rheims and 
afterwards to Paris, where his father visited him, 
214 


CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 215 

having taken the long and dangerous journey 
from America to see his beloved son, and to ar- 
range for Charles to go to London, as he desired 
him to take a course in English law. Our young 
student remained in the English metropolis three 
years, and then returned after his long absence, 
to his native land. The following notice was pub- 
lished in the Maryland Gazette ” of February 
14, 1765, Last Tuesday, arrived at his fathers 
house in town, Charles Carroll Jr., Esq. (lately 
from London, by way of Virginia), after about 
sixteen years’ absence from his native country at 
his studies, and on his travels.” 

Shortly after Charles Carroll’s return, the 
country was thrown into a ferment of excitement 
over the passage, in England, of the Stamp Act. 
The British government, having spent large sums 
of money prosecuting the French and Indian 
wars, decided to place an additional tax on the 
colonists in America. A law was passed, requir- 
ing all legal papers, such as wills, deeds, contracts, 
even printed advertisements, to contain one of 
these stamps, without which they were invalid. 
Great was the indignation of the colonists over this 
act of tyranny. Meetings were held, the British 
government denounced in no uncertain terms, and 
the stamp distributers, or men who had the stamps 
for sale, were burned or hung in effigy. Charles 
Carroll attended these meetings, and joined an 


216 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 

association called the Sons of Liberty,” who 
pledged themselves to use their influence against 
the importation of articles of commerce from Eng- 
land. To a friend in London, Charles wrote 

IN’othing can overcome the aversion of the people 
to the Stamp Act but an armed force, and that 
too, not a contemptible one. To judge from the 
number of the colonists and the spirit they have 
already shown, and which I hope to God will not 
fail them on the day of trial, twenty thousand 
men would find it difiicult to enforce the law, or 
more properly speaking, to ram it down our 
throats.” 

But political affairs were not the only ones that 
engaged the attention of the young colonist. He 
had bestowed his affections upon a very lovely 
and amiable young lady, a distant relative, 
Bachel Cooke, to whom he became engaged. The 
wedding was to have taken place on June 8, 1766, 
but a few days before that date, the prospective 
bridegroom was attacked with an illness which 
lasted until the fall. Again the wedding day 
was set, but this time the young lady fell ill, and 
died in the very month in which her marriage 
was to have taken place. After Charles Carroll’s 
death, there were found, in a secret drawer of his 
writing-desk, a miniature of Rachel Cooke, and a 
lock of her hair, which he had treasured through 
all the years of his eventful life. After a few 


CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. ^17 

years, Charles Carroll married Mary Darnall, 
whom he described in a letter to a friend as pos- 
sessed of good sense, virtue and good temper, a 
charming, neat girl — a little too young for me, 
perhaps.” The marriage took place, June 9, 1768, 
in Annapolis, where the young couple continued 
to reside. Among the many distinguished guests 
who enjoyed the hospitality of the newly estab- 
lished home, was George Washington, whose es- 
tates in Fairfax County, Virginia, were not far 
from Annapolis. In Washington's diary there 
is an entry of September 27, 1771 in which he 
writes that he, visited Annapolis, dined at Mr. 
CarrolFs and went to the ball.” 

It would be hard to imagine a greater contrast 
than that between the United States of to-day, and 
the country as it was in the latter part of the 
eighteenth century. All of the territory outside 
of that small portion of it occupied by the original 
thirteen colonies was a wilderness inhabited by 
roving bands of Indians. There were no fac- 
tories, no railroads, no steamboats, no large 
cities. Traveling was a slow and difficult process, 
by water in sailboats, or by land on horseback, 
or in coaches over roads only fairly good in sum- 
mer, and almost impassable in the winter season. 
Cloths, silks, linens, shoes, building materials, 
sugar, tea, and numerous other articles of necessity 
or luxury were imported from Europe (mostly 


218 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 


from England) and sold to the colonists at a high 
price. Religious toleration was scarcely known or 
understood. Even the colony of Maryland, 
founded by the Catholic Lord Baltimore, who in- 
tended that all Christians should be allowed the 
free practice of their religion, had been gradually 
forced to yield to the prejudice against the Catho- 
lics. In Charles Carrolls time. Catholics could 
not hold oiBSce, and they were oppressed by the 
very penal laws of England from which their 
ancestors had fled. ISTot one Catholic church was 
open in Maryland, at the time of Charles CarrolFs 
marriage. The Holy Sacrifice had to be offered 
up under the family roof, and the Carroll house 
in Annapolis, as well as Doughoregan Manor, 
each had its chapel, where divine service was held 
whenever a priest could be procured. Frequently 
those devoted servants of God were compelled to 
ride sixty miles on horseback to attend a sick call. 
Father John Carroll returned to Maryland in the 
year 1774, and was as hearty a sympathizer with 
the cause of the Revolution as was his illustrious 
cousin, for he saw that its success meant the 
emancipation of the Catholic Church in Mary- 
land. 

The situation between England and the colonies 
was constantly becoming more grave. Although 
the Stamp Act had been repealed, parliament 
would not give up what it considered its right to 


CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 219 

tax the colonies whenever it saw fit to do so. 
Taxes were placed on glass, lead, painter^s ma- 
terials and tea. Again the people rebelled. Two 
regiments of English troops were stationed in 
Boston. Their presence aroused the resentment 
of the colonists, and disturbances were constantly 
arising. One evening a fight took place, the 
troops fired and six citizens were killed and five 
wounded. The Boston Massacre, as it was called, 
aroused the whole country. 

The British parliament took alarm at the 
hostile attitude of the colonists, and repealed all 
the taxes except the tax on tea. As the colonists 
denied the right of parliament to tax them at all, 
this only angered them the more, and although 
the tea was actually cheaper in the colonies than 
it was in England, the people decided to buy 
none of it, and when an English ship laden with 
tea, arrived in Boston harbor, a party of men dis- 
guised as Indians, stole on board one night and 
threw all the tea overboard. This was the famous 
Boston Tea Party.” When the Peggy Stew- 
art ” arrived in Baltimore with a cargo of tea, the 
people were so much incensed, that the owner of 
the brig, Mr. Anthony Stewart, decided, on the 
advice of Charles Carroll, to take the only means 
of righting himself. He set fire to the vessel with 
his own hands and all the obnoxious tea was con- 
sumed. 


220 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 

Congress had passed a resolution against im- 
ports from England, and committees were ap- 
pointed to see that the resolution was carried out. 
Charles Carroll was among the commissioners 
from Maryland. In spite of the fact that he was 
a papist,” his fellow-citizens wisely concluded 
that his services were entirely too valuable to be 
dispensed with in the disturbed state of the 
country. 

Not long after these occurrences, letters were 
received in Maryland containing the news of the 
battle of Lexington, and a meeting was called, 
at which it was decided to support the revolu- 
tionists. Charles Carroll assisted in preparing a 
statement, setting forth the wrongs which the 
colonies had suffered at the hands of the mother 
country; sketching a military system, and provid- 
ing for the issue of paper money. This declara- 
tion became the charter of Maryland until the 
constitution was adopted in 1776. 

To his friend, George Washington, Charles 
Carroll wrote, If we cannot obtain a peace on 
safe and just terms, my next wish is, that you 
may extort by force from our enemies, what their 
justice should have granted, and that you may 
long live to enjoy the fame of the best, the noblest 
deed, the defending and securing the liberties of 
your country.” 

In February, 1776, Charles Carroll was ap- 


CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 221 

pointed by Congress one of a commission to visit 
Canada, in behalf of the colonies. The other mem- 
bers of the commission were Benjamin Franklin, 
then an old man of seventy, and Samuel Chase. 
The Eev. John Carroll was requested to accom- 
pany the little party and to use his influence with 
the Canadian priests, in favor of the colonists. 
Charles Carroll and his companions embarked 
at ISTew York for the journey up the Hudson 
Kiver. On their arrival in Albany, they were 
met by General Schuyler, at whose house they 
were entertained until they resumed their jour- 
ney, which then became more difficult, the ice 
rendering travel by water tedious, and sometimes 
even dangerous. The tired travelers at length 
reached Montreal, where they were kindly re- 
ceived and comfortably lodged, in one of the best 
houses in the city. 

The commissioners lost no time in setting about 
the accomplishment of the object which had 
prompted them to make the long journey to Can- 
ada. But the Canadians were well treated by 
the mother country, and certain ill-advise^ 
speeches in Congress had offended them, and 
rendered them distrustful of their southern neigh- 
bors. All these circumstances made them unwill- 
ing to join the colonists in their struggle for 
independence. Although the commissioners failed 
in enlisting the aid of the Canadians, they were 


222 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 

of great service in attending to the needs of the 
Continental soldiers in Canada, and, in obtain- 
ing from the Indian tribes of the north a promise 
of neutrality in the approaching struggle. 

Having accomplished this important work, the 
commissioners started home and arrived in Phil- 
adelphia on June 11. They appeared before Con- 
gress which was then in session, and gave an 
account of their mission in Canada, and of the 
state of the Continental troops in that country. 
Charles Carroll hastily journeyed from Philadel- 
phia to Annapolis for the purpose of using his 
influence with his native state to join in the Dec- 
laration of Independence, which he knew would 
soon be made by Congress. His efforts were suc- 
cessful, and he was appointed a delegate from 
Maryland to Congress with full power to join the 
other colonies in throwing off the yoke of Eng- 
land. Congress, convinced that the time was ripe 
for a formal separation from the mother-country, 
had appointed a committee of five, to draw up a 
Declaration of Independence, w’hich was written 
by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. This all-im- 
portant document was submitted to Congress and 
accepted, July 4, 1776. As soon as the joyful 
news was noised abroad, the old bell-ringer in the 
State-house, pulled the rope with such energy that 
the stirring peals which sounded from the belfry 
thrilled every patriotic heart. All the bells of the 


CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 223 

city were rung, and the joy and excitement of the 
' people beggared description. The statue of King 
George was thrown into the street, and the Brit- 
ish arms torn from the public buildings and 
burned. 

Charles Carroll took his seat in Congress on 
July 18. The Declaration of Independence, hav- 
ing been accepted by Congress and ordered en- 
grossed on parchment, was ready August 2, on 
which date it was signed by the members repre- 
senting the thirteen states. When Charles Car- 
roll of Carrollton placed his signature to the 
famous document, a witness said There go mil- 
lions,” — referring to the probability of the con- 
fiscation of the Carroll estates to the crown, in 
case the revolution had proved a failure. It has 
been erroneously stated that Charles Carroll, on 
this occasion, added, of Carrollton,” for the first 
time, to his signature, in order that there might 
be no mistake about his identity. This curious 
error is refuted by the fact that his letters, written 
while a student in Europe, are signed, Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton. 

But the colonies were not free just because they 
declared themselves so. A long and bitter 
struggle lay before them, before the liberty that 
they prized so highly, was really theirs. You 
all know the story of the sufferings and the re- 
verses of the patriot army under the command of 


224 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 

the brave George Washington, Many times, a 
less courageous soul would have given up the 
struggle in despair, but Washington was never 
disheartened. 

In December, 1776, the British considered that 
the war was nearly at an end, and settled down 
to pass the winter comfortably at Trenton, New 
Jersey. Washington determined upon a bold step. 
The Hessians, German troops hired by the Brit- 
ish, were celebrating Christmas, feasting and 
drinking, when, in the darkness of the winter 
night, amid the cakes of floating ice, Washington's 
men guided their boats across the Delaware River. 
Landing on the New Jersey shore, the army 
marched swiftly and silently to Trenton, arriving 
there in the early morning. The surprise was 
complete. Many of the Hessians were killed, or 
wounded, and more than a thousand taken pris- 
oners. A few days later Washington met another 
British force at Princeton and was again victo- 
rious. The British then abandoned New Jersey 
to Washington, who remained in possession. For 
the first time, it looked probable that the colonists 
would win, although many hard battles still re- 
mained to be fought, before the war really ended. 

The French rendered valuable aid to the strug- 
gling patriots, sending an army under the Mar- 
quis de Lafayette to their assistance, and later, 
a fleet of war- vessels. In 1781, the scene of 


CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 225 

hostilities was transferred to the South, and the 
British general, Lord Cornwallis, made his head- 
quarters at Yorktown, Virginia. Washington, 
wishing to throw the enemy off their guard, pre- 
tended that he was going to attack New York. 
Instead, he marched his army to Yorktown with 
all speed. A French fleet sailed into York River, 
to keep away any British ships that might come 
to the assistance of Cornwallis, who, finding him- 
self thus surrounded, was forced to surrender. 
This important event, took place October 19, 1781, 
and practically ended the Revolutionary War. 

Peace was celebrated in Annapolis on the 
grounds belonging to Charles Carroll, called Car- 
rolFs green. A lady, writing to her son in Eng- 
land, described the festivities. There is to be a 
grand dinner on Squire CarrolPs Point — a whole 
ox to be roasted, besides sheep and calves, and a 
world of other things. The whole to conclude 
with illuminations and games.’’ 

Charles Carroll continued to serve his country 
as an able senator for more than twenty years. 
His last public act was to convey, from the Senate 
to the House of Representatives, the news of the 
death of his beloved friend, George Washington. 
One who was present wrote, General Washing- 
ton died while the Legislature was still in session. 
Immediately after the houses were organized, the 
Senate sent down a message to the House of Rep- 
15 


226 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 


resentatives, proposing to pay appropriate hon- 
ors. Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, and John 
Eager Howard, two of the most distinguished 
men in Maryland, were appointed by the Senate 
to bring the message, and I never witnessed a: 
more impressive scene. The two honored sen- 
ators, their gray heads bowed in sorrow, stood at 
the bar of the House, with the tears rolling down 
their cheeks. The speaker and the members rose 
to receive them, and stood while the message was 
delivered. It was no empty, formal pageant. It 
was the outward sign of the grief within, and 
few were present who did not shed tears on the 
occasion.” 

With the beginning of the new century, Charles 
CarrolFs retirement to private life began. In the 
peaceful seclusion of Doughoregan Manor he 
spent his declining years, still taking a keen inter- 
est in the affairs of his country. His advice was 
sought on almost every subject of national im- 
portance, for age had not impaired the soundness 
of his judgment. He made use of his great 
wealth to establish Catholic churches and schools 
in Maryland. The Jesuit College at Georgetown 
was founded through his efforts, as was also the 
church of St. Mary, in Baltimore. 

Of Charles Carroll’s faith and piety, we have 
abundant proof in his letters to his son. In 
improving your mind,” he wrote, remember 


CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 227 


your God. The fear of the Lord, says the wise 
man is the beginning of wisdom. Without virtue, 
there can be no happiness, without religion, no 
virtue.’’ 

When his little grandson died, he wrote to the 
bereaved parents, informing them that he had 
given orders to take up the pavement in the 
chapel, so that the little grave could be dug, 
for receiving the earthly remains of your poor 
little infant. To soften the loss of this dear and 
engaging child, the certainty of his now enjoying 
a glorious immortality, will greatly contribute.” 

In N'ovember, 1832, the long and useful life of 
the Last of the Signers,” was drawing to a close. 

I am going,” he said, to the tomb of my 
fathers ” — then noticing the distress of his 
daughter and grand-daughter, who watched beside 
him, he endeavored to divert them by joking about 
his physicians whom he called his Esculapiases.” 
It was during his last illness that he said to a 
friend, “ I have lived to my ninety-sixth year, I 
have been blessed with great wealth, prosperity 
and most of the good things which the world can 
bestow, public approbation, esteem, applause, but 
what I now look back on with the greatest satis- 
faction to myself is, that I have practised the 
duties of my religion.” 

On November 14, a large and sorrowful com- 
pany gathered in the room of Charles Carroll of 


228 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

Carrollton. His children and grandchildren, a 
few intimate friends, several old negro servants — 
all knelt in prayer while the viaticum was admin- 
istered to the dying Catholic. After the beautiful 
ceremonies were concluded, he rallied somewhat, 
and fell into a light doze. Shortly after mid- 
night, he calmly breathed his last — having re- 
tained full possession of his faculties until the mo- 
ment of his death. 

Charles Carroll attained the great age of 
ninety-five years, and survived all the other fifty- 
four signers of the Declaration of Independence. 
The Last of the Signers ” earned the gratitude 
of his country, which he so ably served in the 
times which try men^s souls. His fellow-country- 
men revere his memory, and American Catholics 
are justly proud of the achievements, and of the 
virtues of Charles Carroll of Carrollton. 


MAKIE AlSTTOmETTE. 


Maeie Antoinette^ one of a family of sixteen 
children, was bom November 2, 1755. Her 
mother, Queen Maria Theresa, of Austria, was a 
stern, hard woman, whom her children feared 
and respected more than they loved. Her father, 
Francis, Duke of Lorraine, died when the little 
Marie was only ten years old, and, from that 
time her education was directed by her mother, 
who, absorbed in the management of her kingdom, 
was not always fortunate in the choice of tutors 
for her children. The consequence was that the 
royal children were very imperfectly educated, a 
fact which Marie Antoinette had occasion in after 
life to deplore bitterly. 

The little princess was naturally intelligent 
and witty, and possessed of a cheerful disposition, 
and her childhood passed very happily with her 
numerous brothers and sisters in the lovely palace 
and gardens of Schoenbrun. She seems to have 
been the favorite of all her mothers children, with 
the Austrian people. A Frenchman who saw her 
at Schoenbrun when she was about fourteen years 
229 


230 


MARIE ANTOINETTE. 


of age, exclaimed, What a destiny ! young, 
beautiful, rich and a archduchess, what a des- 
tiny ! ” 

When the young heir to the French throne was 
about twenty years of age, a bride was sought for 
him among the royal houses of Europe. The 
choice fell on Marie Antoinette, and, as her 
mother readily agreed to this brilliant match for 
her daughter, the beautiful, affectionate child pre- 
pared to leave her native country, and become the 
bride of a man whom she had never seen. 

The Austrian people loved her as much as they 
detested the French, and, as she was leaving for 
France, her carriage was surrounded by a great 
crowd of men, women and children, who cut the 
traces amid much weeping and lamentations. 
Poor child, it was fortunate that what the future 
held in store for her could not even be dreamed 
of by those devoted friends, who felt only a nat- 
ural grief at parting from their beloved princess. 

When Marie Antoinette reached the frontier 
of France, the Austrian ladies and noblemen who 
had accompanied her thus far, returned to Vienna, 
and she proceeded with French attendants only. 
At Compiegne, the young bride was met by her 
future husband, whose name was Louis. He was 
a cold, indifferent young man, who did not ex- 
hibit the slightest enthusiasm over the beautiful 
princess, who was soon to become his wife. 


MARIE ANTOINETTE. 


231 


Young as she was, this indifference did not escape 
the notice of Marie Antoinette, who felt it deeply. 

The French heir to the throne was called the 
Dauphin, and his marriage to the young Austrian 
princess took place May 16, 1770, amid scenes of 
splendor and rejoicing seldom witnessed, even in 
the gay capital of France. Thousands of people 
thronged the avenues and parks, exclaiming in 
admiration over the beauty and grace of the royal 
bride. 

A feature of the evening was to be a magni- 
ficent display of fireworks, which had been stored 
on a wooden platform in a small park called the 

Place Louis XV.” An immense throng of 
people filled this park at dusk, when suddenly a 
tongue of fl&me shot upward from the platform, 
and a tremendous explosion rent the air. Then 
followed a scene of indescribable horror. The 
fireworks, hurled in all directions by the explo- 
sion, set fire to women^s dresses or exploded under 
the feet of plunging horses. In an instant the 
laughter of the light-hearted crowd was replaced 
by the groans of the wounded and the dying. The 
bridal couple, whose carriage was just about to 
enter the park when the explosion occurred, were 
horrified when they learned that forty persons 
had been killed outright, and three hundred 
wounded, a sad ending, indeed, to a wedding day. 

The young dauphiness, as Marie Antoinette was 


232 


MARIE ANTOINETTE. 


called after her marriage, soon found her path 
beset with many difficulties. She had some warm 
friends, but she made enemies, who were always 
trying to annoy and wound her. The etiquette of 
the French court was very strict, and the dauphi- 
ness, accustomed to the freedom of her native 
Austria, ridiculed the ceremony with which every 
action had to be performed. Even her mode of 
dressing and undressing, putting on her gloves, 
taking her handkerchief — all were prescribed by 
rule. 

One day she was receiving some persons who 
had just been presented, her ladies-in- waiting each 
stationed in her proper place, when it was ob- 
served that one of them, Madame de I^oailles, was 
exceedingly disturbed. She raised her eyebrows, 
shook her head, motioned with her hands, and 
seemed to be trying to attract the attention of 
one of the younger maids of honor, to whom Marie 
Antoinette whispered, Turn down your lappets, 
or Madame de Noailles will expire.’’ The lap- 
pets on the young lady’s bodice had been turned 
up, when etiquette demanded that they be turned 
down. You can easily understand how irksome 
all this form and ceremony must have been to a 
lively child, only sixteen years of age. 

Marie Antoinette’s home was at Versailles, 
about ten miles from Paris, where there was a 
splendid palace belonging to the kings of France. 


MARIE ANTOINETTE. 


233 


In tlie beautiful forest of Versailles there were 
also two smaller buildings, called the Great and 
the Little Trianon, where Marie Antoinette could 
live with greater simplicity than was possible at 
the larger palace. She and her ladies, dressed 
as dairy-maids, would amuse themselves making 
butter, or bringing the fresh milk to the dairy. 
It was at Versailles that the dauphiness tried to 
repair her neglected education. Masters were 
employed to give her lessons, but, owing to the 
demands made upon her time, by the duties of 
her station as future queen of Trance, but little 
progress was made in her studies. 

The dauphin continued to treat her with cold 
indifference. One evening while she was prom- 
enading in the gardens of the Little Trianon, he 
overwhelmed her with delight and surprise, by 
offering her his arm. 

About four years after the dauphin^s marriage, 
his grandfather. King Louis XV of France, fell 
ill. What are these strange pimples breaking 
out on my hands ? ” he asked his physicians. 
They concealed from him the fact that the dis- 
ease was smallpox, and in a few days the king 
was dead. 

When the news was brought to the dauphin and 
Marie Antoinette, they fell on their knees, ex- 
claiming tearfully, O, God, help us, we are too 
young to reign.” They were crowned soon after 


234 


MARIE ANTOINETTE. 


at Kheims, and Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette 
began their tragic career as king and queen of 
Prance. 

For many years the French peasantry and the 
lower classes had been growing poorer and more 
miserable, and the nobles richer and more cruel. 
In the country where there were numerous cha- 
teaus, the homes of the nobility, the poor peasant 
was taxed unmercifully for the benefit of his 
lord. After working all day, perhaps harnessed to 
a cart, like a horse, he would be compelled to beat 
the ponds during the entire night, so that the sleep 
of the family at the chateau might not be dis- 
turbed by the croaking of the frogs. Starved, ill- 
treated, taxed and worked to death, the peasantry 
at length began to show signs of rebellion against 
their oppressors. Meetings were held in Paris, 
during which the royal .family and the nobility 
were bitterly denounced, and preparations were 
secretly begun for an uprising of the people. Ru- 
mors of these things reached the king from time 
to time, and distressed him greatly. In his 
trouble he turned to his wife for sympathy and 
began to treat her with less of his former indiffer- 
ence. Poor Marie Antoinette was so very igno- 
rant of the miserable state of affairs throughout 
the kingdom that being told that the poor people 
had no bread, she asked, why then, did they not 
eat cake ? 


MARIE ANTOINETTE. 


235 


About nine years after the marriage of Louis 
and Marie Antoinette, a son was born to them, 
who died in infancy. Three other children were 
afterwards added to their family, of whom two, 
Maria Theresa and Louis Charles, lived to ex- 
perience with their parents, the horrors of the 
French Revolution. 

In the meantime the discontent of the people 
increased, and it began to be noised abroad that 
the peasantry of France were in a dangerous 
mood. The Empress Catharine II of Russia, 
wrote a letter concerning these rumors to Marie 
Antoinette, in which she said that kings and 
queens ought to proceed in their careers undis- 
turbed by the cries of the people, as the moon pur- 
sues her course unimpeded by the howling of 
dogs.’’ 

Shortly after this occurred the affair of the 
diamond necklace. This was simply the pur- 
chase of a diamond necklace valued at three hun- 
dred and fifty thousand dollars by an unscrupu- 
lous woman of the French court, who, to obtain it, 
disguised herself, impersonating the queen, whom 
she resembled. Marie Antoinette was entirely 
innocent of any part in this intrigue, but the 
French people accused her of complicity in the 
affair (the necklace was never paid for,) and her 
enemies used this story against her, with dreadful 
effect. Songs about the diamond necklace were 


236 


MARIE ANTOINETTE. 


sung in the streets of Paris, -in which the queen 
was openly insulted. Her path was every day 
beset with greater difficulty and danger. 

July 14, 1789, witnessed the bursting of the 
storm which had been gathering for centuries, 
and Paris was filled with a furious, blood-thirsty 
army. To the Bastile ! ” was the cry which 
rose from thousands of throats, and a huge mob 
composed of men and women, and even children, 
surged toward that celebrated prison. The gar- 
rison protecting it was entirely powerless against 
the vast multitude, and the fall of the Bastile was 
an accomplished fact before the dawning of the 
following day. 

The royal family received the alarming news 
at Versailles, and the king determined to pro- 
ceed alone to Paris to appease the populace, if 
that were possible. He suffered no injury on his 
dangerous journey, but every conceivable insult 
was heaped upon him, as he rode through the 
streets of Paris. 

How began a reign of terror. All business was 
at a standstill, no provisions were brought into the 
city, the people were actually starving. The bak- 
eries were attacked, and a few bakers were hung 
before their own ovens. One haggard woman ob- 
tained possession of a drum, and began beating 
it, shouting Bread, bread ! ” A few boys fol- 
lowed her: then more women, the procession. 


MARIE ANTOINETTE. 


237 


growing as it marched through the streets, ap- 
peared more like the vision of a feverish night- 
mare than reality. 

At length the cry of bread was changed. Some 
one shouted, To Versailles!’’ and instantly the 
mob directed its steps toward the residence of the 
royal family. Alarm hells were rung, and the 
queen was urged to seek safety for herself and her 
children in flight. This she heroically refused 
to do, declaring her intention of never deserting 
her husband. The daughter of Maria Theresa 
does not fear death,” she said. 

Meanwhile the mob had arrived. They over- 
ran the gardens of Versailles, and their savage de- 
meanor struck terror to the hearts of those within 
the palace. The queen did not retire until about 
three o’clock in the morning, when, worn out, she 
threw herself upon her bed, to obtain, if possible, 
a few hours’ repose. 

The Commander of the ITational Guard was the 
Marquis de Lafayette, who had returned from 
the United States, where he rendered such great 
service in the war for Independence. He assured 
the queen that she might rest in safety, as he 
would station a trusty guard at her door. Marie 
Antoinette had just fallen asleep when she was 
aroused by a fearful noise in the hall. The sol- 
diers at her door called, Fly, save yourself,” as 
the mob attacked them. This gave the queen 


238 


MARIE ANTOINETTE. 


time to leave her room by another door, which 
she locked after her, just as the mob rushed into 
her room. Thinking that the queen occupied her 
bed, they ran their sabers through it repeatedly. 
The whole palace was ransacked, mirrors and 
furniture were destroyed, and clothing strewn 
over the floor. The bloody heads of the murdered 
guard were held upon pikes for the king and 
queen to see. 

Marie Antoinette bore herself in the midst of 
these horrors with queenly fortitude. When the 
rabble called for her, she fearjessly stepped out 
upon a balcony in plain view, holding a child by 
each hand. This appeased the mob, a few of 
whom shouted ‘‘ Long live the Queen ! ” The 
royal family were then notified to prepare them- 
selves to return with the mob to Paris. Seven 
long hours were consumed in making their way to 
the city. The people surrounded their carriage, 
which was forced to proceed at a snaifls pace, now 
insulting, now threatening them. One woman 
climbed upon a cannon and shouted, ITow we 
will have bread, for we bring with us the baker, 
the baker’s wife, and the baker’s boy.” 

In Paris, the royal family were placed under 
a strong guard in the palace of the Ttiileries. It 
would be difiicult to picture the anguish of the 
king and queen, who could not prevent their chil- 
dren from witnessing those scenes of horror and 


MARIE ANTOINETTE. 


239 


bloodshed. The poor little seven-year-old dau- 
phin, being awakened in the morning by the roar- 
ing of cannon, threw his arms around his mother^s 
neck and said, O, mamma, is to-day yesterday 
again ? ’’ 

For two years the king and queen were pris- 
oners in the Tuileries. Many of the French nobles 
had left to seek safety in foreign lands, and Louis 
and his family were urged to follow their example. 
Their own servants had been taken from them, 
and replaced by spies, whose duty it was to report 
every action, every conversation even, of the royal 
prisoners. Escape seemed almost impossible, but, 
after many plans had been considered and aban- 
doned, arrangements for flight were finally per- 
fected. 

ITo one knew of the project except the king and 
queen, the king’s sister, Madame Elizabeth, and 
a young Swedish nobleman. Count de Ferson, who 
had been in the king’s service in happier days. 
He resolved to accompany the royal fugitives dis- 
guised as a coachman, so that he could drive the 
carriage. 

In the silence of midnight, the royal family 
took their places in the carriage, the sham coach- 
man mounted the box, and they were off. All 
went well until their arrival, late on the follow- 
ing afternoon, at a town many miles distant from 
Paris, and not far from the frontier, beyond 


240 


MARIE ANTOINETTE. 


which they would have been safe. Unluckily, the 
horses had to be changed, occasioning some delay, 
and the king imprudently put his head out of the 
carriage window. One of the bystanders, who 
was the village postmaster, had been to Paris, and 
he recognized the king. 

The fugitives were arrested and sent back un- 
der a strong guard to Paris. O, the agony of that 
journey! Insulting and menacing crowds lined 
the way, shouting all kinds of imprecations. The 
heat was intense, and the dust stifling. The poor 
little dauphin suffered terribly from thirst, and 
his mother, regardless of her own safety, spoke 
from the window of the carriage to a bystander, 
begging him for a drink of water for the suffering 
child. My poor child is choking with thirst,’’ 
she said. We will soon choke him and you in 
another fashion,” was the brutal answer. 

At length the weary journey ended. The royal 
family were taken to the Tuileries, which they 
had left so hopefully but two days before, and 
where they were now to be close prisoners. The 
revolution gained every day in strength. Law 
and order were unknown in Paris, where anarchy 
and bloodshed reigned. Murder was such a com- 
mon occurrence, that the streets ran with blood. 
Any one who was of noble birth, or who was sus- 
pected of being in sympathy with the aristocracy, 
was in danger of his life. Even the churches were 


MARIE ANTOINETTE. 


241 


not safe from the insane fury of the revolutionists. 
In one of them the Blessed Sacrament was dese* 
crated, and a wicked woman placed upon the altar 
to be worshiped as the Goddess of Keason.” 

Efforts had been made by the nobles who had 
fled the country, in the beginning of the revolu- 
tion, to rescue the king and queen. An army, 
called the allied army, had been formed, and had 
reached the frontiers of France. The news that 
the king would soon be rescued, increased the fury 
of the people. The royal family then occupied a 
gloomy prison, called the Temple. Louis was not 
allowed the solace of his family^s society. He 
was confined alone in a separate part of the build- 
ing. The soldiers who conducted them to this 
gloomy place remarked that they had hitherto been 
used to gilded roofs, now they would see how the 
assassins of the people were lodged. Every day 
some new restriction was placed upon them. Very 
soon they were deprived of pens and paper, 
as well as knives, scissors and even needles, 
under the pretence that they might attempt 
suicide. 

One day the roll of drums and the tramp of 
many feet in the street outside the prison, ap- 
prised the captives that something unusual was 
about to occur. It had been decided to give the 
king a mockery of a trial 

The Convention was the name of the tribunal 

16 


242 


MARIE ANTOINETTE. 


before which the nobles were tried during the 
revolution. Louis,” said the president of the 
Convention, the French nation accuses you. You 
are about to hear the charges preferred against 
you.” The king listened patiently to a long list 
of accusations, after which he submitted to a 
tedious examination. At the close of the trial, 
he was led into a waiting-room, where a soldier 
was eating some bread. Exhausted and faint 
from hunger, the French monarch begged the sol- 
dier, in a whisper, for a piece, which he ate with 
relish. 

As Louis was returning to his room in the 
Temple, he gazed long and sadly at the windows of 
the queen^s apartments, but they were so closely 
barred that he could not even catch a glimpse of 
his wife and children. 

All communication between him and his family 
had been prohibited, but he managed to send a 
note wrapped in a tangle of thread to the queen, 
who contrived to return him an answer. Louis 
then commenced his preparations for death, for 
he had read his doom in the fierce demeanor of 
the judges at his trial. He was seated in his 
dreary cell, when the officers of the Convention ar- 
rived to inform him that within twenty-four hours 
he was to go to the guillotine. The guillotine was 
a machine used in France during the revolution 
to sever the heads of victims condemned to die, 


MARIE ANTOINETTE. 243 

being more swift and accurate than the ax in 
the executioner’s hands. 

The king received the news of his approaching 
death with great fortitude, only requesting that 
he be allowed to see a priest and to bid farewell 
to his unhappy family. These requests were 
granted, and the Abbe Edgeworth arrived before 
sunset. Fortunately he was allowed to remain 
with Louis and to accompany him to the guillotine. 
Seven o’clock was the hour set for the king’s meet- 
ing with his family. Louis had prepared himself 
for this ordeal, which he dreaded far more than 
death, by long and fervent prayer, and, as the 
clock struck seven, he descended a stair leading 
from his miserable room into a small, bare hall, 
where he was to bid a last farewell to his family. 
The door was thrown open, and Marie Antoinette, 
leading the dauphin by the hand, entered and 
threw herself into her husband’s arms. Madame 
Elizabeth, the king’s sister, followed with the 
young princess, Maria Theresa. A half hour 
passed, during which scarcely a word was spoken, 
but the lamentations of the unfortunate family 
were heard in the street outside of the prison. 
At last it was time for the king to retire. Bidding 
farewell to each one of the little group, he par- 
tially promised that he would see them once more 
on the morrow, — ^then swiftly ascended the stairs. 
Upon re-entering his room, he said to his con- 


MARIE ANTOINETTE. 


244 

fessor, I have done with time, let us pre- 

pare for eternity.” 

At midnight Louis lay down to rest until five 
o^clock, when he arose and prepared for the re- 
ception of Holy Communion. After his devotions 
were concluded, he asked that a few locks of his 
hair be cut off, which he enclosed in a packet with 
his wedding ring, to be sent to his wife. In a 
last message to her, he assured her of his love, and 
told her that he would spare her and the other 
members of the family the anguish of a second 
parting. How happy am I,” he said, to have 
retained my holy Faith. What would be my 
condition now, if I were deprived of the consola- 
tion and hope that my holy religion gives me.” 

As Louis was leaving the prison on his way 
to the guillotine, he met a jailor, who had pro- 
voked him the night before, by his insolence. 

Mathew,” he said, I was hasty with you yester- 
day, forgive me for the sake of this hour.” At 
the prison door, there was a carriage which the 
king entered, accompanied by the Abbe Edge- 
worth. 

A few spectators in the streets, touched by the 
sad sight of Louis, haggard, ragged, unkempt and 
unshaven, cried Pardon, pardon,” but the sound 
was stifled by the rolling of drums. As if to add 
the last drop of bitterness to the king^s cup of sor- 
row, the guillotine had been placed in a small 


MARIE ANTOINETTE. 245 

park facing the palace of the Tuileries, his home 
in happier times. 

The space surrounding the guillotine, the 
streets for blocks around, even the neighboring 
housetops, were black with spectators. The car- 
riage stopped. “ We have arrived, I think, said 
the king calmly. The Abbe nodded his head. 
Louis then begged the guard on duty to see that 
no insult would be offered to his faithful con- 
fessor after the execution. He then mounted the 
scaffold. The executioner advanced to bind his 
hands. Ho,’’ said the king, I will never sub- 
mit to such an indignity.” Sire,” said M. Edge- 
worth, submit to this last humiliation in resem- 
blance to our Blessed Lord, who is about to rec- 
ompense all your sufferings.” The king at once 
offered his hands to be bound, and knelt down. 

Son of St. Louis, ascend to heaven,” said the 
priest. The blade fell, Louis XVI was no more. 

Soon after the execution of her husband, Marie 
Antoinette was confined alone in a cell so damp 
that her shoes moldered and dropped from her 
feet. One day she ventured to ask for another 
blanket for her bed. How dare you make such 
a request,” said the guard, you deserve to be sent 
to the guillotine.” 

In October, Marie Antoinette was brought to 
trial. The absurd accusation was made against 
her that ^he abhorred the execution of her hus- 


246 


MARIE ANTOINETTE. 


band. She did not even answer her accusers, bear- 
ing herself throughout the trial with queenly dig- 
nity. Death within twenty-four hours, was the 
verdict. 

Marie Antoinette had no dread of death, but the 
mother^s heart shrank from leaving her children. 
She wrote them an affectionate letter bidding 
them farewell. After spending some time in 
prayer, she threw herself upon her wretched bed 
and fell asleep. In the morning she dressed her- 
self in a white gown, the last one remaining to her. 
Her hair, which sorrow had turned quite white, 
was covered with a cap. 

Jolted about in the rude cart that bore her to 
the guillotine, derided and insulted by the mob 
which filled the streets, this daughter of a hundred 
kings still bore herself with composure and dig- 
nity. In alighting from the cart, she accidentally 
stepped on the foot of the executioner. Pardon 
me,^^ she said, with a grace which scarcely ac- 
corded with her terrible surroundings. Kneeling 
down, she prayed fervently for her children. The 
executioner advanced. His hand trembled, and 
there was a slight delay before the ax fell. Long 
live the Eepublic ! ” was the shout that rent the 
air. Marie Antoinette's sufferings were over. 

The king^s sister, Madame Elizabeth, who 
had shared the imprisonment and sufferings of 
the royal family, was executed very shortly after 


MARIE ANTOINETTE. 


247 

the queen. There remained only the two chil- 
dren. The dauphin, Louis Charles, was placed in 
the charge of a brutal man, who so ill-treated him 
that he lost his mind. He died of a fever, at the 
age of ten years. His sister, Maria Theresa, after 
lingering some time in prison, was finally rescued 
and sent to her mother^s family in Austria. For 
one entire year she never smiled, but time gradu- 
ally softened the recollection of the horrors she had 
witnessed in France. Maria Theresa afterwards 
married the Duke d^Angouleme, with whom she 
lived very happily. 

The French Kevolution has not a parallel in 
history. It shows how humanity, giving itself 
up to the passion of revenge, will be degraded be- 
low the level of the wild animal, which it imitates 
and surpasses in ferocity. The peasantry of 
France undoubtedly suffered many great wrongs 
at the hands of the nobility, and if they had pro- 
ceeded in a rational manner to claim their rights, 
would have had the sympathy of the world. Un- 
der the circumstances we find it hard to pity their 
sufferings, when we remember how frightfully 
they wreaked their vengeance upon their oppres- 
sors. 


VENICE. 


If you ever go to Europe, as I hope you will, 
some day, dear children, you will visit a fairy 
city — a city in whose limpid sapphire streets, the 
beat of horses’ hoofs and the rumble of wheels, 
are never heard. The only sounds are the soft 
splash of waves against the marble steps of stately 
palaces, and the song of the gondoliers, as they 
guide their boats through those wonderful canals 
that form the streets of Venice. A city whose 
streets are lagoons, whose carriages are gondolas, 
whose squares are beautiful sheets of sparkling 
water — that is Venice. 

But how came a city to be built in such a curi- 
ous place ? ” you will ask. To answer you, I must 
go back to the fifth century. In the year 421, 
the barbarians from northern Europe, who had 
committed terrible ravages in Italy, totally de- 
stroyed the city of Aquilera, whose inhabitants, 
with their neighbors from Padua, Concordia and 
Altinum, fled, seeking refuge from the savage in- 
vaders. On reaching the Adriatic Sea, the fugi- 
248 


VENICE. 


249 


tives discovered sixty small islands of marsh and 
sand, on which they began to build their poor little 
huts. Gradually, the city grew, the first little 
huts were torn down to make way for solid houses, 
and, in this way was founded the great and power- 
ful city of Venice. 

From its humble beginning in the fifth century, 
to the commencement of the twelfth, this city of 
the sea had attained a power which many king- 
doms did not possess. The vessels of her merchant 
princes filled the seas. She had subjected to her 
sway the territory along the coast of Dalmatia, 
and the islands of Crete and Cyprus, which were 
called the tribute-lands, because they were obliged 
to pay to Venice, a yearly tribute. Every Vene- 
tian citizen was a sort of sovereign to be respected 
and feared by his less fortunate countrymen, 

Venice was governed by a doge, or duke, elected 
by the people. His installation in office was ac- 
companied with many curious and interesting 
ceremonies, among them, the wedding of the sea, 
when the doge, with much pomp and array of 
splendor, cast a ring into the Adriatic. This was 
called the marriage of Venice with the sea. 

Domenico Miehieli was the name of the doge 
who led the Venetians against Jerusalem during 
the Crusades. So well did he and his fellow-citi- 
zens fight, that he was very near being made King 
of Jerusalem. Whei\ Miehieli returned home, he 


250 


VENICE. 


brought with him the secrets of the Eastern glass- 
workers, and Venetian glass has since been cele- 
brated throughout the world. In the baptistry of 
the wonderful church of St. Mark, there is a stone 
which this great doge caused to be removed from 
Tyre to Venice. It had stood at the gates of the 
former city since Our Lord’s time, and it was 
popularly believed, in the Holy Land, that Our 
Saviour rested' upon this stone, during the course 
of a journey He was making along the coasts of 
Tyre and Sidon. The stone was received in Ven- 
ice with awe and reverence, and was considered 
by the Venetians as the most precious spoil of the 
many which Michieli brought from the East. 

The cathedral of St. Mark contains the body of 
the great apostle for whom it is named, and who is 
the patron-saint of Venice. 

In the ninth century, two Venetian sea-cap- 
tains, having brought their vessel to Alexandria, 
where St. Mark was buried, learned that the king 
was plundering the churches to enrich his own 
palace. They obtained the consent of the priests 
to remove the relics to a place of safety — a diffi- 
cult and dangerous undertaking, requiring cour- 
age and caution. The Venetians placed the 
Saint’s body in a basket covered with herbs and 
pork- — a meat which every Mussulman holds in 
abhorrence. The sailors who carried the basket 
were instructed to cry— pork ! ” unclean ! ” 


VENICE. 


251 


whenever they saw any one approaching, and in 
this way they reached the vessel safely with their 
precious burden. Then the body was wrapped 
in a sail, to conceal it from the Turk whose duty 
it was to clear the vessel. 

Extraordinary and joyous ceremonies marked 
the reception of the holy relic in Venice, and, 
from that time, the church of St. Mark was em- 
bellished with every rich ornamentation that the 
piety and generosity of the Venetians, could sug- 
gest. Statues of semi-precious stones, rich mosa- 
ics, an altar front of solid gold — these are some 
of the wonders of San Marco. 

During the reign of the Doge, Michieli, all the 
cities of northern Italy, with Venice at their head, 
were united in what was called, the Lombard 
league, against the Emperor Frederick Barba- 
rossa. This great and powerful German ruler 
had, for several years, held northern Italy com- 
pletely in his power. The city of Milan had been 
almost entirely destroyed by the invader, who had 
even marched as far as Home. The Pope, Alex- 
ander III, fled, taking refuge in Venice, where 
the venerable fugitive was treated with every 
mark of distinction and respect. The doge sent a 
message to Barbarossa, interceding for the pontiff. 
The German emperor was very angry when he 
learned that the Holy Father had taken refuge 
in Venice, and sent word to the doge, that unless 


262 


VENICE. 


he delivered up the pontiff, the armies of Barba- 
rossa would let loose the German eagle in the 
church of St. Mark, the foundation of which 
would be made as a plowed field. 

The brave Venetians were not the sort of peo- 
ple to hear such a message calmly. They rose as 
one man, and, in a very short time, a fleet of 
ships had been prepared, to meet the foreign in- 
vaders. The doge, who was over seventy years of 
age, led the fleet in person. The Venetians, before 
going forth to battle, assisted at a Mass said by 
the pontiff, in the church of St. Mark. At the 
conclusion of the Mass, the Holy Father girded 
the doge with a golden sword, and solemnly blessed 
the army. 

Venice had but thirty galleys, while the enemy 
had seventy-five, commanded by the son of Barba- 
rossa, Prince Otto. On the feast of the Ascension, 
the two fleets met in the Adriatic. The Venetians 
were completely victorious, capturing forty ves- 
sels, and taking Otto prisoner. The news of this 
immense and unexpected victory, was received in 
Venice with great rejoicing, and all the people 
flocked to see the return of the triumphant fleet 
with the royal prisoner. The pope himself met 
the victorious doge, and drawing a ring from his 
finger presented it to him, saluting him as Lord 
and Master of the Sea. This was the origin of 
the wedding of the doge with the Adriatic, a cere- 


VENICE. 


253 


mony which always took place on Ascension 
Thursday, in commemoration of the great victory 
of that day. 

Prince Otto was kindly treated by his Captors, 
who sent him, on parole, with a message to his 
father. Frederick, convinced of the power of the 
Venetians, concluded to make peace, and con- 
sented to go to Venice, there to effect a reconcili- 
ation with the pope. 

The meeting took place before the church of St. 
Mark, where the pope, seated in state on his 
throne, awaited the approach of the penitent em- 
peror. Frederick advanced, and kneeling, kissed 
the pontiff ^s foot. The Holy Father then raised 
him up and embraced him. There is, in the vesti- 
bule of St. Mark, a marble tablet which marks the 
spot where this event occurred. 

In the year 1193, the doge, Enrico Dandolo 
was elected. The document recording his oath of 
office, is still preserved in Venice. He vowed to 
rule justly, to accept no bribes, to show no parti- 
ality, not to write letters on his own account to 
any prince, and to maintain, at his own expense, 
two war-ships. Shortly after this doge^s election, 
the French sent an embassy to Venice, begging for 
ships to carry the French crusaders to the Holy 
Land. They had men and money, in plenty, they 
said, but must lack vessels, unless the masters of 
the sea would furnish them. The doge assembled 


254 : 


VENICE. 


the Venetians in the church of St. Mark, (ten 
thousand were present), and bade the strangers 
plead their cause themselves. After Mass, one of 
the Frenchmen rose and said ; Messieurs, the 
noblest barons of France have sent us to you, to 
beg that you will have pity on J erusalem, in bond- 
age to the Turk, and, for the love of God, to ac- 
company us to the rescue. Knowing that no na- 
tion is so powerful on the sea as you, they have 
charged us to implore your aid, and not to rise 
from our knees, until you have consented to take 
pity upon the Holy Land.^’ Hereupon, the six 
ambassadors knelt down, weeping. The doge and 
all the assembled multitude cried out : We grant 
it, we grant it.^’ After the tumult had subsided, 
the doge ascended the pulpit and told the people 
that a great honor had been paid them, an honor 
of which they should prove themselves worthy. 
The Venetians immediately pledged themselves 
to provide transportation and provisions for thirty- 
four thousand French soldiers, besides which they 
furnished fifty galleys of their own. 

In October, 1202, the expedition sailed from 
Venice. The Venetians gathered at the wharf to 
see the departure of the vessels, and were much 
interested in watching the Frenchmen lead on 
board their war-horses — animals that many of the 
citizens of Venice then beheld for the first time in 
their lives. 


VENICE. 


255 


It would seem that the Venetians, after start- 
ing on this expedition, were turned aside from 
their noble purpose, the rescue of Jerusalem, by 
a love of aggrandizement and worldly ambition. 
In spite of the pope’s remonstrance, they per- 
sisted in going first to Constantinople ; where they 
assisted in overthrowing the usurper on the throne 
and in placing in power, the real king, who had 
been imprisoned. But, owing probably, to their 
disobedience, the conquerors of Constantinople 
soon found themselves involved in many diffi- 
culties. Just as they were upon the point of de- 
parting, a second revolution broke out, which it 
took all their strength to subdue. Constantinople 
was finally pacified, but not before many French 
and Venetian soldiers had been sacrificed. The 
Venetians took, as a memento of the services they 
had rendered to the city of Constantinople, the 
celebrated bronze horses of St. Mark’s. These 
ancient bronzes once adorned the triumphal arch 
of the Koman Emperor Trajan; and were re- 
moved, by the Emperor Constantine, from Kome 
to Constantinople. The Venetians placed them 
over the main portal of the church of St. Mark, 
where they remain to this day, the wonder and 
admiration of all beholders. 

The doge, Enrico Dandolo, who had taken part 
in so many stirring events, died at the age of 
ninety-seven, in Constantinople. An old chronicle 


256 


VENICE. 


states that when his successor assumed the new 
dignity, he put a rose-colored silk stocking on one 
foot, and a white one on the other, together with 
the imperial boots. Thus we see that even the 
grave Venetians were not above a love of fine 
attire. 

My story would be too long, if I told you the 
history of every doge of Venice, some of whom led 
very eventful lives. Francesco Dandolo, a relative 
of the doge who captured Constantinople, went on 
his knees, with a chain around his neck, to beg the 
pope to lift the sentence of excommunication 
against the Venetians. Another doge, Marino 
Faliero, who aspired to greater power than the 
people allowed their rulers, led a faction who 
wished to help his cause, but was defeated, tried, 
and condemned to be beheaded on the very balcony 
where he had taken the oath of office, after his 
election. The history of the doge, Lodovico 
Manin, is perhaps, the saddest of all. After the 
fifteenth century, the power of Venice began to 
decline, and in 1797, the former proud Republic 
was subjected to the sway of Austria, and the poor 
old doge, was compelled to take the oath of alle- 
giance, in the name of Venice, to the Austrian 
government. With tottering steps, he walked to 
the place appointed for the agonizing ceremony, 
raising his trembling hands, as if praying heaven 
to spare him the terrible ordeal. After the oath 


VENICE. 257 

had been administered, he swooned, and it was 
thought, for a time, that he had expired. 

Venice has always been one of the most relig- 
ious cities in the world. The Blessed Sacrament 
is constantly exposed in some one of her numerous 
churches, where people, as well as priests, take 
their turn in adoring, not only in the daytime, 
but at night also. The extraordinary magnificence 
and beauty of her churches bear witness to the 
zeal and piety of her inhabitants, in ancient, as 
well as in modern times. 

Many beautiful traditions exist in Venice, illus- 
trating the piety of the young Venetian girls. 
One of them, the daughter of the Count Tagli- 
apietra, lived with her father, in their palace on 
the Grand Canal. From her early youth, she 
showed a remarkable devotion to the Blessed 
Sacrament, and would steal away from her home, 
to spend long hours in prayer, before the altar of 
San Marco. Her father objected to what he con- 
sidered her exaggerated piety, and gave strict 
orders to all the gondoliers on the Grand Canal, 
to refuse her passage. When the child hailed a 
gondola, and was told that she could not cross the 
canal, she boldly stepped out upon the water, and ^ 
walked, dry-shod, to church. 

Venice is beautiful, even in decay, and we are ^ 
everywhere reminded of her past glorious history, 
although much of her former grandeur has de- 
17 


258 


VENICE. 


parted. Her own artists who are among the finest 
in the world, have immortalized many events in 
Venetian history, in their matchless paintings. 
Artists from foreign lands, have reproduced, on 
their canvases, the beauties of the Grand Canal, 
the Bridge of Sighs (across which condemned 
prisoners were led to execution), the Ducal 
Palace, and the superb church of St. Mark. 

Venice is a city, to love and to compassionate, 
her triumphs and her woes have been sung by 
poets innumerable, and I could not conclude my 
little story more appropriately than by quoting 
one of them: 


Underneath day’s azure eyes, 
Ocean’s nursling, Venice lies, 

A peopled labyrinth of walls, 
Amphitrite’s destined halls, 

Which her hoary sire now paves 
With his blue and beaming waves. 
Lo ! the sun upsprings behind, 
Broad, red, radiant, half reclined 
On the level, quivering line 
Of the waters crystalline ; 

And before that chasm of light. 

As within a furnace bright, 

Column, tower, and dome and spire^ 
Shine like obelisks of fire. 

Pointing with inconstant motion 
From the altar of dark ocean 
To the sapphire-tinted skies ; 

As the flames of sacrifice 


VENICE. 

/ 

From the marble shrines did rise 
As to pierce the dome of gold 
Where Apollo spoke of old. 

Sun-girt City I thou hast been 
Ocean's child, and then his queen ; 
Now is come a darker day, 

And thou soon must be his prey. 


259 


CONCLUSIOlf. 

I BEGAN to tell my first story before the fire on 
a cold February afternoon, when the ground was 
covered with snow, and the great icicles hanging 
from the eaves, sparkled in the frosty air. I 
finished the last one in the summer-house on a 
sunny October day. The rustling leaves of the 
great elm-tree in the garden fell thick around us, 
and the chrysanthemums inclined their bright 
heads toward us in the autumn wind, as if they, 
too, were listening to my story. 

There was a moment’s silence, after I had fin- 
ished, then Josephine said, Muddie, I would 
rather be Charles Carroll of Carrollton, than any 
king or queen, except the saints, whose story 
you have told us, wouldn’t you?” and I quite 
agreed with her. 


THE END. 


260 






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